July 25 - "The Hiding of Black Bill"

“The Hiding of Black Bill”
by O. Henry
The Gift of the Magi and Other Stories (2002)

* * * (Good) Western

Percival Saint Clair takes a job herding sheep at a remote ranch where discussion of the train robber Black Bill prepares him for the arrival of sheriffs in search of the rogue.

The one problem I have with some of Henry’s stories comes from, I’m sure, the style of writing at the time, but also from his insistence on having his characters telling stories inside of the story without very clearly delineating the dialogue. This character said that this other character said this about that – it all becomes muddled after awhile. Here it became especially difficult when the character of Black Bill, pretending to be another character, was telling stories about himself. Paying careful attention I was able to follow the story and it was good, but it took a lot of work for very little payoff.