Captain John Staple had enjoyed active service too much to ever settle for a life of humdrum respectability. The post of gate-keeper to a toll-house in the Pennines appeared to offer certain unexpected and agreeable diversions. This exciting, witty novel tells how the handsome dragoon becomes involved with an engaging highwayman, a tacituen Bow Street runner and a stolen hoard of coins whilst protecting the squire's attractive neice from black villainy.