Wells Fargo's top operative, Clay Nash, was hot on the trail of an outlaw gang who had stolen a fortune in golden coins. But just as the net was closing, he was recalled to Denver to hear some bad news. His boss, Jim Hume, had been badly shot by a mysterious stagecoach robber, and wasn't expected to live. Clay and Jim went back a long way together, and he swore there and then that Jim's attacker was going to pay for what he'd done.But first he had to find him.The trail led him all the way to the Big Muddy, and an audacious plan to launder that fortune in golden coins aboard the sternwheelers that plied the river.Before Clay could act, however, he found himself shackled and thrown into a dank, dark hold ... filled with rats determined to chew the flesh right off his bones!