Bound south

Bound south by Ernest Haycox is a Western short story written in the early to mid-20th century. It centers on a drifting cowboy’s run-in with a lawless cowtown and the tests of loyalty and nerve that follow. Joe Breedlove, a solitary, good-natured cowboy riding south, stumbles on Indigo Bowers, a fiery drifter fleeing a posse after a saloon shooting in Canyon. Joe helps Indigo slip the net and then goes into Canyon for food, where a desperate young woman begs him to rescue her father, Henry Allen, being bled dry at poker. In the Blazing Star saloon, Joe coolly disrupts the game by posing as a partner with a stake, faces down the sheriff, and—helped by a timely blaze that Indigo sets to distract the town—forces a pause that shames the gambler into returning Allen’s losses. After slipping the money back to the daughter, Joe and Indigo ride out. At a fork they part, but Indigo “accidentally” circles back, and the two drift south together, easy partners bound by wit, decency, and the open trail.

Bound south, by Ernest Haycox. Republished by OpenStories from Project Gutenberg eBook #78339.