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The Ransom of the Red Chief
(after O.Henry)
Once Bill and I made a plan to steal a child and get a ransom for him. We
chose a boy who was ten years old. He was the son of a rich man, Dorset by
name. Bill and I were sure that the father was going to pay us a ransom of two
thousand dollars.
There was a mountain not far from the town. We found a large hole in it
and made it a home for ourselves. One evening we went to Dorset's house,
stole the boy and took him to the mountain.
I left Bill and the boy there and went to the town to buy some food. When I
came back I saw that Bill and the boy sat near the fire.
"Come to the fire!" the boy shouted, "Red Chief himself welcomes you!"
"We are playing Indian," Bill told me. "He is all right now, but I had a hard
time with him when you were away".
We sat down to supper.
"Red Chief," said I, "would you like to go home?"
"What for?" he asked. "I don't have any fun at home. I like it better here.
Please, don't take me home again."
"Not now," I said, "we'll stay here for some time."
Early next morning somebody's wild shouting woke me up. I jumped up to
see what was wrong. Red Chief sat on Bill's back. In his hand he had a large
stick. "Help! He's going to kill me!" Bill shouted.
I took the stick away from the boy and made him lie down again.
Next day when I came back from the town, I saw that Bill stood with his
back to the wall. There was a frightened look on his face. The boy stood near
with a big stone in his hand. He was going to throw it at Bill.
"He put a hot potato down my back", Bill told me, "and I struck him."
I took the stone away from the boy.
"Now, are you going to be good or not?" I told him, "if not I'll take you
home at once."
"I didn't want to hurt Bill," said the boy,"he hurt himself. I'll be good.
Please, don't send me home."
Bill and I got a pen and some ink to write a letter.
"Let us make the ransom a thousand and a half instead of two thousand,"
said Bill. "I am afraid that nobody will pay more for such a boy."
When we finished the letter the boy came up to Bill. "Let's play a new
game," he said.
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