The second absorbing adventure in Victor Canning's Smiler trilogy. 'Smiler' is still on the run, aiming to evade the police until his father, a ship's cook, comes home to clear him of a crime he hasn't committed. Hitching a train to Scotland, he finds work as an animal caretaker within the grounds of a castle occupied by and "the Laird and ", Sir Alec Elphinstone. When the Laird leaves on a trip to London, Smiler discovers that thieves are planning to invade his employer's castle.