A collection of Western short stories by Owen Wister. 

THE JIMMYJOHN BOSS (excerpt)

One day at Nampa, which is in Idaho, a ruddy oldmassive jovial man stood by the Silver City stage, patting his beardwith his left hand, and with his right the shoulder of a boy whostood beside him. He had come with the boy on the branch train fromBoise, because he was a careful German and liked to say everythingtwice—twice at least when it was a matter of business. This was amatter of very particular business, and the German had repeatedhimself for nineteen miles. Presently the east-bound on the main linewould arrive from Portland; then the Silver City stage would take theboy south on his new mission, and the man would journey by the branchtrain back to Boise. From Boise no one could say where he might notgo, west or east. He was a great and pervasive cattle man in Oregon,California, and other places. Vogel and Lex—even to-day you mayhear the two ranch partners spoken of. So the veteran Vogel was nowonce more going over his notions and commands to his youthful deputyduring the last precious minutes until the east-bound should arrive.

"Und if only you haf someding like dis," saidthe old man, as he tapped his beard and patted the boy, "it wouldbe five hoondert more dollars salary in your liddle pants."

The boy winked up at his employer. He had a gray,humorous eye; he was slim and alert, like a sparrow-hawk—the sortof boy his father openly rejoices in and his mother is secretly inprayer over. Only, this boy had neither father nor mother. Since theage of twelve he had looked out for himself, never quite withoutbread, sometimes attaining champagne, getting along in his Americanway variously, on horse or afoot, across regions of wide plains andmountains, through towns where not a soul knew his name. He closedone of his gray eyes at his employer, and beyond this made no remark.

"Vat you mean by dat vink, anyhow?" demandedthe elder.

"Say," said the boy, confidentially—"honestnow. How about you and me? Five hundred dollars if I had your beard.You've got a record and I've got a future. And my bloom's on merich, without a scratch. How many dollars you gif me for dat bloom?"The sparrow-hawk sailed into a freakish imitation of his master...

Owen Wister (July 14, 1860 – July 21, 1938) was an American writer, historian and "father" of western fiction. He is best remembered for writing The Virginian and a biography of Ulysses S. Grant. 

He began his literary work in 1891. Wister had spent several summers out in the American West, making his first trip to Wyoming in 1885. Like his friend Teddy Roosevelt, Wister was fascinated with the culture, lore and terrain of the region. On an 1893 visit to Yellowstone, Wister met the western artist Frederic Remington; who remained a lifelong friend. When he started writing, he naturally inclined towards fiction set on the western frontier. Wister's most famous work remains the 1902 novel The Virginian, the loosely constructed story...