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 "the Laird", Sir Alec Elphinstone. When the Laird leaves on a trip to London, Smiler discovers that thieves are planning to invade his employer's castle. Dare he go to the police for help?
