HEART OF THE WEST

by O. HENRY

CONTENTS

I. [Hearts and Crosses]
II. [The Ransom of Mack]
III. [Telemachus, Friend]
IV. [The Handbook of Hymen]
V. [The Pimienta Pancakes]
VI. [Seats of the Haughty]
VII. [Hygeia at the Solito]
VIII. [An Afternoon Miracle]
IX. [The Higher Abdication]
X. [Cupid à la Carte]
XI. [The Caballero's Way]
XII. [The Sphinx Apple]
XIII. [The Missing Chord]
XIV. [A Call Loan]
XV. [The Princess and the Puma]
XVI. [The Indian Summer of Dry Valley Johnson]
XVII. [Christmas by Injunction]
XVIII. [A Chaparral Prince]
XIX. [The Reformation of Calliope]

I
HEARTS AND CROSSES

Baldy Woods reached for the bottle, and got it. Whenever Baldy went for anything he usually—but this is not Baldy's story. He poured out a third drink that was larger by a finger than the first and second. Baldy was in consultation; and the consultee is worthy of his hire.

"I'd be king if I was you," said Baldy, so positively that his holster creaked and his spurs rattled.

Webb Yeager pushed back his flat-brimmed Stetson, and made further disorder in his straw-coloured hair. The tonsorial recourse being without avail, he followed the liquid example of the more resourceful Baldy.

"If a man marries a queen, it oughtn't to make him a two-spot," declared Webb, epitomising his grievances.