The Indians faced a winter of starvation unless they could trade their furs for an ample stock of provisions. The furs accumulated during three years of trapping, were for the most part silver fox - a fur reserved for kings and emperors. Yankee Tyler - a trader - had been entrusted with the bales of shimmering pelts - the whole wealth of the Indian tribe. They were on his flatboat, moving down the river toward the steam boat landing at Big Bend. Yankee's eighteen year old nephew, Jim, was aiding with the long sweeps. That night, as the embers of Yank Tyler's campfire beside the river faded into blackness, five figures, moving with the stealth of Indians, crept toward the sleeping quarters of the trader and his nephew. Bart Bodrey gave final orders to take the men hostage, and cast off down the river in the cover of darkness, and with the rapids ahead...