Read "Retief of the Red-Tape Mountain" by Keith Laumer online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
"We're damn glad you're here, mister," said a fat man with two revolvers belted across his paunch. "We can use every hand. We're in bad shape. We ran into the Flap-jacks three months ago and we haven't made a smart move since. First, we thought they were a native form we hadn't run into before. Fact is, one of the boys shot one, thinkin' it was fair game. I guess that was the start of it." He stirred the fire, added a stick.
"And then a bunch of 'em hit Swazey's farm here," Potter said. "Killed two of his cattle, and pulled back."