Turpin intends to find some rest in the little village of Mudbury, but Swiftnick starts bragging about Dick's skills as a prizefighter. An unsuspecting Dick soon finds himself facing the bully Hogg, the accomplice of bible thumping tax collector Father Nightingale. Dick decides to call a favor from an old friend, Tom "The Bristol Butcher" Bracewell, but he disappears shortly before the fight.

When Dick and Swiftnick find themselves robbed, they pursue this masked highwayman, only to find the trail leading to a country house belonging to Mrs Bedingfield and her two daughters Belinda and Abigail.