Showdown at Yellow Butte (1983) Read Online Free PDF Page A

taking their time, the heat had increased. Nothing stirred on the wide, shallow face of the desert but a far and lonely buzzard that floated high and alone over a far-off mesa. Tom Kedrick's eyes roamed the country ceaselessly, and yet from time to time his thoughts kept reverting to the girl on the veranda. Connie Duane was a beautiful girl. Although Gunter's niece, she apparently did not approve all he did.
    Why was she here? What was her connection with Keith? Kedrick sensed the latter's animosity and he welcomed it. A quiet man, he was slow to anger; but when he was pushed, a deep-seated anger arose within him in a black tide that made him a driving fury. Knowing this rage that lay dormant within him, he rode carefully, talked carefully, and held his temper and his hand.
    Dornie Shaw drew up suddenly. "This here is Canyon Largo," he said, waving his hand down the rift before them. "That peak ahead an' on your right is The Orphan. Injuns won't let no white man up there, but they say there's a spring with a good flow of water on top.
    "Yonder begins the country that Burwick, Keith and Gunter bought up. They don't have the land solid to the Arizona border, but they've got a big chunk of it. The center of the squatters is a town called Yellow Butte. There's maybe ten, twelve buildin's there, among 'em a store, a stable, corrals, a saloon, an' a bank."
    Kedrick nodded thoughtfully. The country before him was high desert country and could under no circumstances be called swamp. In the area where he stood there was little growth: a few patches of curly mesquite grass or black grams, with prickly pear, soapweed, creosote bush and catclaw scattered through it. In some of the washes he saw the deeper green of pinon or juniper.
    They pushed on, entered the canyon and emerged from it, heading due west. He rode warily, and once, far off on his left, he glimpsed a horseman. Later, seeing the same rider, nearer than before, he deduced they were under observation and hoped there would be no attack.
    "The country where most of the squatters are is right smack dab in the middle o' the range the company is after. The hombre most likely to head 'em is Bob McLennon. He's got him two right-hand men name of Pete Slagle an' Pit Laine. Now, you asked me the other day if they would fight. The m three are shinnery oak. Slagle's an oldish feller, but McLennon's in his forties an' was once a cowtown marshal. Laine, well, he's a tough one to figure, but he packs two guns an' cuts him a wide swath over there. I hear tell he had him tome gun trouble up Durango way an' he didn't need no help to handle it."
    From behind him Kedrick heard a low voice mutter, "Most as hard to figure as sister!"
    Dornie's mouth tightened, but he gave no other evidence that he had heard. However, the comment served to add a little to Kedrick's information. Obviously, Donnie Shaw had a friend in the enemy's camp, and the information with which he had been supplying Keith must come from that source. Was the girl betraying her own brother and her friends? It could be, but could Shaw come and go among them without danger? Or did he worry himself about it?
    There had been no mention of Dai Reid, yet the powerful little Welshman was sure to be a figure wherever he stood. He was definitely a man to be reckoned with.
    Suddenly, a rider appeared from an arroyo not thirty yards off and walked her home toward them. Dornie Shaw swore softly and drew up. As one man, they all stopped.
    The girl was small, well made, her skin as brown as that of an Indian, her hair coal black. She had large, beautiful eyes and small hands. Her eyes flashed from Dornie to the others, then clung to Tom Kedrick, measuring him for a long minute. "Who's your friend, Donnie?" she said. "Introduce me."
    Shaw's eyes were dark and hard as he turned slightly. "Cap'n Kedrick, I want yuh to meet Sue Laine."
    'Captain?" She studied him anew. 'Were you in the army?"
    'Yes," he said quietly. Her pinto was not the horse of