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]

HEART OF THE WEST

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.