Wasn't "Hombre" by Elmore Leonard?

I love the Elmer Kelton books.

The Time It Never Rained
The Good ole Boys
The Smiling County
The Man who rode Midnight
The Day the Cowboys Quit

The Ranger series

The Rebels (3 books written as Tom Early)

and several more.

Kelton is in my top 5 western authors.

LL is 1
Then there is Kelton, Mulford, Wheeler and Short.

Honorable mention Henry, Brand, Curtis, Schaefer, Wister, Guthrie, Dorothy Johnson, Haycox