Title: The Caballero’s Way
Author: O. Henry
In: The Mammoth Book of Westerns (Jon E. Lewis)
Rating Out of 5: 3 (On the fence about this one)
My Bookshelves: Westerns
Dates read: 20th April 2020
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: Robinson
Year: 2013
5th sentence, 74th page: Go in and rest, and let me water your horse and stake him with the long rope.
Travelling along the Caballeros’ Way can be dangerous. Especially when even the woman you love betrays you.
I’m not really all that great on Western lore. But one thing that I do recognise / know is this name of the Kid. I’m not really sure if this refers to one individual, multiple, or what… but it was certainly nice to have a figure that I associate with Westerns appearing in the pages of this short story. I may not have quite known what this story was about, mostly because I kept fazing out throughout it, but I certainly appreciated the appearance of a well-known characterisation.
This was kind of a tragic little story. At first, I thought that the Kid was going to retire and live happily ever after with his woman. Particularly when it states that that’s exactly what he wants. But, alas, that was most certainly not meant to be. Instead, there is a sad ending filled with misunderstandings and manipulations. It worked well within the Western tale, but it was not the happy ending I kind of wanted.
So far in my reading of Westerns, I’m enjoying the simplicity of the stories. They’re nothing that I feel the need to rave about, but they’re a pleasant way to spend a few moments of time, just escaping the realities of day to day stressors.
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