Tom Kedrick earned his stripes during the Civil War, fought Apaches, and even soldiered overseas. But in the high desert country of New Mexico, the battle-hardened Kedrick is entangled in a different kind of war, fueled by greed and deception. Hired by Alton Burwick to drive a pack of renegades and outlaws off the government land recently set aside for an Indian reservation, Kedrick begins to notice that things are not as they seem. As his suspicions grow, he realizes that he may be fighting on the wrong side of a land swindle. Disillusioned and outraged, Kedrick must take action against the very people who hired him–or be forced to witness the bloody massacre of innocent men and women. Alton Burwick was itching to make a big land grab at Yellow Butte. But first, he had to drive the tough band of squatters from the range. So he rounded up a bunch of killers for the job, and hired Tom Kendrick to ramrod the crew, never mentioning that they would be fighting innocent men and women. Suddenly Kedrick realized he would have to do something fast--before Burwick's mob turned Yellow Butte into a wasteland. Alton Burwick was itching to make a big land grab at Yellow Butte. But first, he had to drive the tough band of squatters from the range. So he rounded up a bunch of killers for the job, and hired Tom Kendrick to ramrod the crew, never mentioning that they would be fighting innocent men and women. Suddenly Kedrick realized he would have to do something fast--before Burwick's mob turned Yellow Butte into a wasteland. Alton Burwick was itching to make a big land grab at Yellow Butte. But first, he had to drive the tough band of squatters from the range. So he rounded up a bunch of killers for the job, and hired Tom Kendrick to ramrod the crew, never mentioning that they would be fighting innocent men and women. Suddenly Kedrick realized he would have to do something fast--before Burwick's mob turned Yellow Butte into a wasteland. Our foremost storyteller of the American West, Louis L’Amour has thrilled a nation by chronicling the adventures of the brave men and woman who settled the frontier. There are more than three hundred million copies of his books in print around the world. Chapter One Everything was quiet in Mustang. Three whole days had passed without a killing. The townfolk, knowing their community, were not fooled. They had long since resigned themselves to the inevitable. In fact, they would be relieved when the situation was back to normal--a killing every day; more on hot days. Several days without deadly gun play built up a mounting tension that was unbearable. Who would be next? Moreover, with Clay Allison, who had killed thirty men, playing poker over at the Morrison House, and Black Jack Ketchum, who richly deserved the hanging he was soon to get, sleeping off a drunk at the St. James--trouble could be expected in the very near future. The walk before the St. James was now cool, and Captain Tom Kedrick, a stranger in town, sat in a well-polished chair and studied the street with interested eyes. He was a tall young man with rusty brown hair and green eyes, quiet mannered and quick to smile. Women never failed to look twice, and when their eyes met his their hearts pounded, a fact of which Tom Kedrick was totally unaware. He knew women seemed to like him, but it never failed to leave him mildly astonished. The street he watched was crowded with buckboards, freight wagons, a newly arrived stage and one about to depart. All the hitch-rails were lined with saddled horses wearing a variety of brands. Kedrick, suddenly aware that a young man stood beside him, glanced up. The fellow was scarcely more than a boy and he had soft brown eyes and hair that needed cutting. "Cap'n Kedrick?" he inquired. "John Gunter sent me. I'm Dornie Shaw." "Oh, yes!" Kedrick got to his feet, smiling, and thrust out his hand. "Nice to know you, Shaw. Are you working for Gunter?" Shaw's brown eyes were faintly ironic. "With him," he corrected. "I work for no man." "I see." Kedrick did not see at all, but he was prepared to wait and find out. There was something oddly disturbing about this young man, something that had Kedrick on edge and queerly alert. "Where's Gunter now?" "Down the street. He asked me to check an' see if you were here, an' if you were, to ask you to stick around close to the hotel. He'll be along soon." "All right. Sit down, why don't you?" Shaw glanced briefly at the chairs. "I'll stand. I never sit in no chair with arms on them. Apt to get in the way." "In the way?" Kedrick glanced up, and then his eyes fell to the two guns Shaw wore, their butts hanging wide. "Oh, yes! I see." He nodded at the guns. "The town marshal doesn't object?" Dornie Shaw looked at him, smiling slowly. "Not to me, he don't. Wouldn't do him no good if he did." "Anyway," he added after a minute, "not in Mustang. Too many hard cases. I never seen a marshal could make it stick in this town." Kedrick smiled. "Hickok