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. (This is an automatically generated summary.)