Few people are familiar with the name William Sydney Porter, but, just as many remember Mark Twain and not Samuel L. Clemens, Porter is well known by the pen name O. Henry. He was living the routine life of a young pharmacist who dazzled people with his artistic drawing ability, creativity that successfully translated into literature. During his most prolific years, O. Henry was compared to the most noted European authors of his time - Guy de Maupassant, Rudyard Kipling, and Robert Louis Stevenson, to name a few. His stories continue to enchant reading audiences worldwide. O. Henry became known as a master of surprise, with witty short stories that trade on wordplay and surprise twist endings that have become standard fare in the century following his death. The Caballero's Way was first published in 1907 in the July issue of Everybody's Magazine and collected in the book Heart of the West that same year. This is a short story in which Porter's most famous character, the Cisco Kid, is introduced. In later film and TV depictions, the Kid would be portrayed as a dashing adventurer, perhaps skirting the edges of the law, but primarily on the side of the angels. In the original short story, the only story by Porter to feature the character, the Kid is a murderous, ruthless border desperado, whose trail is dogged by a heroic Texas Ranger. You can listen online to free English audiobook “The Caballero's Way” by O. Henry on our website.
