"Jack Slade is one of the few stationmasters on the Overland Stagecoach Company who has a code of honor and some skills with a wagon and a Colt. That's why he's chosen by company boss Benjamin Ficklin to clean out corruption on the line just as the Pony Express begins running. But Slade also has a soft spot for hard liquor. That's why he rides into Julesburg unarmed, and why he's filled with six bullets and some buckshot in broad daylight by Jules Beni, the corrupt old stationmaster there."--jacket.