Free Showdown at Yellow Butte (1983) by Louis L'amour

at Kedrick. "Still like to give orders, do you? Maybe that'll be changed."
    "Maybe." Tom Kedrick shrugged. "There will be time enough for me to stop giving orders. I'm turning in."
    "Keith wants to see you."
    "He can wait. I've had a rough time. There's nothing he wants won't wait."
    "Shall I tell him that?"
    "If you like."
    Shaw smiled again. "You must carry a lot o' weight where you come from, Kedrick, but don't forget it ain't here. Keith is a bad man to buck. So's Burwick."
    Kedrick shrugged again. "I've bucked worse. But at the moment, I'm bucking nobody. I need sleep, and by the Lord Harry, sleep is what I'll get. Whatever Keith has on his mind can wait until daylight. I'll be up then."
    Shaw started to go, then hesitated, unable to restrain his curiosity. "What happened to you? We figured you were dead or taken prisoner when you didn't come back."
    For the first time Kedrick began to wonder. Had Shaw wanted the messenger killed for that very reason. Had he deliberately moved that way hoping the enraged settlers would kill Kedrick? It was most likely. "It doesn't matter," he said, passing off the remark casually. "I found a way to keep out of sight."
    Shaw turned away, and when he had gone only a few steps, Tom Kedrick spoke up suddenly. "B y the way, Dornie. Know anybody who rides a grulla mustang?"
    Shaw stopped abruptly, but he did not turn. His whole body had seemed to stiffen. Then he started on. "No," he said gruffly, "I sure don't."
    Laredo Shad stared after him. "You know, pardner, you'll either kill that hombre someday or you'll be killed."
    "Uh huh," Kedrick said quietly, I've the same feeling."

    Chapter VII
    KEITH was pacing the floor in the office at the gray stone building when Kedrick walked in. He stopped and turned swiftly. "Shaw tells me you came in after midnight. Why didn't you come to me according to my orders?"
    "Frankly, I was tired. Furthermore," Kedrick returned Keith's look, 'Td nothing to report that wouldn't keep."
    "You were hired to do a job, and you haven't done it." Keith stood with his hands on his hips. "Where've you been?"
    Briefly and clearly, Kedrick explained, omitting only the visit to Laine's and the story of the hideout. "Frankly," he said, "having looked the situation over, I'd say you had small chance of driving those people off. Also, you and Gunter misrepresented things to me and the Government. That land is occupied not by renegades and outlaws, but by good, solid people. You can't get away with running them off."
    Keith smiled contemptuously. "Gettin' scared? You were supposed to be a fighting man? As for what we can do or can't do, let me tell you this, Kedrick: we've started to run those people off, and we'll do it! With or without you! Hiring you was Gunter's idea, anyway."
    "That's right, it was." Gunter, followed by Bur-wick, walked into the room, and he glanced swiftly from Kedrick to Keith. "If you're complainin' about his going to look over that country, you can stop. I sent him."
    "Did you tell him to come back scared to death? Saying we can't swing it?"
    Burwick had been silent, but now he moved to the big chair behind the desk and dropped into it. He sighed heavily and wiped the back of his hand across his mouth, then glanced at Kedrick keenly. "What did you find out?"
    "That they are determined to fight. I talked to Bob McLennon and to Slagle. There's no quit in those men. They'll fight at the drop of a hat, and to the last ditch. Right now, at this minute, they are ready for anything. Your raid killed one man, wounded another. The dynamite blasted a door loose and blew a hole in the porch."
    Burwick turned swiftly and glared at Keith. "You told me three men dead and a building destroyed! Hereafter you be sure reports to me are accurate."
    He swung back to Kedrick. "Go on, what happened to you? You got away?"
    "I'm here."
    Their eyes met and held for a long time. Bur-wick's stone cold and hard, examining, probing. "What do you think of the deal?" he asked