Dead men don't tell tales. Neither do dead women or children. And when their corpses have been dryin' out in the desert sun for fifty years, there's nary a whisper left of what happened. So when the six Mojave mummies are found near Esperanza, it's up to Stringer to get the story. But someone in Esperanza wants him to just plain git.

First, there's that invitation to "butt out," signed with a skull. Then, the town welcome wagon wants to give him a buckshot bouquet. And when a hired gun tries to back-shoot him, Stringer knows he's up against a varmint as slick and deadly as a desert snake.