'The Rattling Cat' is a rip-roaring tale of smuggling in the late eighteenth century on the coast of Kent. The young hero, Miles, becomes involved with colourful characters and exciting escapades in the cutthroat town of Deale. Miles Papillion has been sent to stay with his uncle, landlord of the Noah's Ark, a hostelry with a dubious reputation. He is swiftly embroiled in the search for a smugglers' tunnel that is guarded by a ghostly skeleton. This involves him in alarming situations: being held up in a coach by a highwayman, almost drowning while swimming from a bathing machine, escaping down the revolving sail of a windmill and leading an rescue on the Goodwin Sands. His loyalties are challenged when he befriends the local inhabitants ~ saints and sinners ~ each, in some way, connected with the 'Wicked Trade'.