The ninth in a series of fourteen books by Abbie Joules about her brother, Bendigo, as they grew up on their hard-scrabble farm in east Texas. Ben, and his friend Lydel, are faced with a dilemma on Ben's family farm. After an ill-advised plan to feed Lydel's two pet ferrets with dump ground rats, the family chicken coop becomes overrun with the ravenous, scaly-tailed beasts. An ultimatum comes from Ben's irate dad to rid the coup of the menace at all cost. Ben and Lydel's plan to use the rats themselves to deliver the coup de grace proves effective, but more costly than expected.