Chapter 26 Red Chief's Ransom
Looks like a good deal; you'll have to wait until I'm done, though.The story happened when we—Bill Driscoll and I—were heading south, passing through Alabama, and this kidnapping idea came to us.Bill would later describe this as a "moment of confusion," but we didn't realize it at the time.
There is a small town in that place, the terrain is as flat as a big pie, of course, the name is still called Summit Town.The town is full of well-fed peasants, and you can imagine how comfortable this class of people live.
Bill and I wanted to partner up to buy a piece of black market land in western Illinois, but we only had about six hundred dollars in total. To realize this plan, we needed another two thousand dollars.We sat down on the steps of the hotel to discuss.We say that the inhabitants of country market towns are especially fond of children; therefore, and with other factors, it is easier to get kidnapped here, unlike those places where newspapers are published nearby, and when something goes wrong, reporters are sent to disturb it. There was a lot of buzz.We knew that there were a few policemen in Summit Township, and maybe a few lazy dogs, and that there might be an article or two published in the Farmer's Weekly after the incident, but we couldn't catch us with this little force.From this point of view, it is a good deal.
We have chosen for our victim the only son of Ebenezer Dolster, the leading man of the town.The father was a man of high status and a penny-pincher, a serious businessman in the construction business.The boy was ten years old, with freckles and hair the color of a magazine cover you buy at the newsstand while catching a train.Both Bill and I think that Ebenezer must pay at least two thousand dollars in ransom, but you'd better wait for me to finish.
About two miles from Summit Town, there is a hill with dense grass.There is a cave on the back mountain, and our food is stored in it.
One evening, when the sun had gone down, we drove past old Dorst's house in a carriage, and found the boy in the street throwing stones at a kitten on a fence opposite.
"Hey, little guy!" Bill said, "Would you like to eat a bag of candy and go for a ride in the car?"
The boy flicked his hand, and a brick hit Bill in the eye, neatly.
"Just like that, your old man has to pay an extra five hundred dollars." Bill said and got out of the car.
The little guy was aggressive, like a half-sized bear grabbed us and fought for a while, but was finally thrown into the car and drove away from Summit Town.We took him to the cave; I tied the horse into the woods, and after dark drove to a small village three miles away to return the hire cart and horse, and walked back to the hills.
Bill put ointment on the wound on his face.A fire was lit behind the big rock at the entrance of the cave, and the boy stood by, watching a pot of boiling coffee.I found two bird tail feathers in his red hair.When I approached, he pointed at me with the branch in his hand and said, "Haha! Damn you, you dare to walk into the camp of the plain demon king Red-haired Chief?"
"He's all right now," said Bill, rolling up his trousers again to look at the cut on his leg. "We played Indian. We're going to make this kid never forget the games we played here."
Really, it was probably the first time the kid had had such fun at this age.He thought it was very interesting to stay in the cave, and he had already forgotten that he was kidnapped.He then called me Detective Snake Eyes, and announced that when his Indian warriors came back from the war, they would burn me at the stake at sunrise.
Afterwards we had supper; with his mouth full of sliced meat and pate, he began his speech.His inter-dinner conversation ran roughly as follows:
"I like this a lot. I've never lived in the wild; but I once had a lovely wild cat. My ninth birthday is over. I hate school. Jimmy Talbot's aunt's house, hen Sixteen of the eggs laid were eaten by mice. Are there any real Indians in this wood? Why is the nose so red, Hank? My daddy has a lot of money. Are the stars in the sky hot too? I beat Ed Walker twice last Saturday. Want to catch toads. Can bulls bark? Why are oranges round? Is there a bed in this cave to sleep in? Amos Murray has six toes. Parrots can talk, monkeys and fish can't. How many times what equals twelve?"
Every few minutes, as soon as he remembered that he was an Indian, he took up the branch and crept up to the hole like a gun and searched for any annoying white detectives.He also uttered a killing sound from time to time, and old Hank was afraid when he heard this sound.The kid frightened Bill when he arrived.
"Red Chief," I said to the boy, "do you want to go home?"
"Well, why do you want to go home?" he said. "There's no fun at home. I hate school; I like camping. You won't send me back, Snakeeye, will you?"
"Not now," I said, "we're going to be in this hole for a while."
"Well!" said he, "that would be the best. I never had such a good time when I was growing up."
It was about eleven o'clock when we went to bed.We spread some wide, thick blankets on the ground, and Red Chief slept among us.We weren't worried that he would run away, but we didn't get a good night's sleep.As soon as there was a sound of branches and leaves in the woods outside, his little head thought that there was a sneak attack by criminals, so he jumped up again and again to get his long gun, and kept shouting in the ears of Bill and me, "" Dude, listen up" and kept us awake for three hours.Eventually I drifted off to sleep, only to dream that I had been kidnapped and chained to a tree by a menacing red-haired pirate.
Just after dawn, I was awakened again by Bill's extremely shrill cry.You would never expect such a sound from a male vocal organ—not a growl, not a long howl, just like the hysterical, frightening sound that a woman makes when she sees a ghost or a caterpillar. Another scream of embarrassment.Early in the morning, in a cave again, it was really uncomfortable to hear such a shrill and lifeless scream from a strong man.
I rolled over and got out of bed to see what was going on.It turned out that the red-haired chief was already riding on Bill's chest, pulling Bill's hair with one hand, and holding our sharp meat-cutting knife in the other, struggling with how to execute the sentence against Bill last night. How to cut off his scalp completely.
I snatched the knife from the child and forced him to lie down again.But Bill became distraught from then on, and after lying down on his side, he never dared to close his eyes again because of the kid with us.Although I fell asleep for a while, when the sun was about to rise, I remembered the words of Red Chief, who would be tied to the stake and burned to death at sunrise.I wasn't nervous, nor frightened; but I sat up, lit my pipe, and smoked, leaning against a rock behind me.
"Why are you up so early, Sam?" Bill asked.
"Me?" I said. "Oh, I've got a little pain in my shoulder. I think it'll be better if I sit."
"You're lying!" said Bill. "You're scared. You're burned at the stake, and you're afraid he's going to burn you. If he could find matches, he'd do it. Isn't that terrible, Sarah Tom? You think, who's going to pay for a little rascal like that?"
"That's right," I said. "Parents like naughty kids like that. Now, you and the chief get up and make breakfast, and I'll go see what's going on at the top of the hill."
I climbed to the top of the hill and scanned the countryside for miles around.When I looked towards Dingfeng Town, I thought I would see strong villagers searching for kidnappers with farm tools in their hands, but what caught my eyes was a peaceful landscape painting, the only embellishment was that one man and one horse were plowing field.No one was fishing in the pond; no one was rushing back and forth, reporting to anxious parents that there was still no news.The whole of Alabama presented in front of my eyes was still in a trance of sleepiness. "Perhaps," I said to myself, "they haven't noticed that the lamb in the pen has been taken by the wolf. God bless us two wolves!" I said, and came down to breakfast.
When I walked into the cave, I found Bill standing there with his back against the cave wall, gasping for breath. The little boy was holding up a rock the size of half a coconut and threatening to hit him on the head.
"He put a hot boiled potato in my collar, burned my back," Bill explained, "and stomped the potato under his feet; I slapped him in the face. You got a gun huh, Sam?"
I snatched the stone from the child and managed to stop a quarrel. "I'll fix you," the boy said to Bill. "No one has ever gone unpunished for beating Red Chief. Be careful."
After breakfast, the little guy took out a leather board tied with a rope from his pocket, and walked out of the cave while untying the rope.
"What the hell is he going to do?" said Bill worriedly. "He ain't going to run away, Sam?"
"Don't worry about that," I said, "he doesn't seem like a stay-at-home guy. We'll have to find a way to get the money, though. Summit hasn't caused much of a stir by his disappearance; perhaps they Haven't realized he's been kidnapped yet. His family thought he was spending the night at Aunt Jenny's or some neighbor's. But anyway, it's time to think of someone today. We've got to give his father tonight Send a message to ask him to spend 2,000 yuan to redeem him."
At this moment, we heard a cry of killing. It was very likely that David threw out stones and knocked down the warrior Goliath with such a cry.The sling that Red Chief had just pulled out of his pocket was a catapult, and he was swinging it over his head to take aim.
I jumped up, and there was a heavy thud followed by a groan from Bill, like a long hiss when a horse is unsaddled.A stone the size of an egg hit Bill behind his left ear, and he collapsed like a skeleton on top of a hot pan of boiling dishwater.I dragged him aside and poured cold water on his head for half an hour.
Bill finally sat up slowly, rubbed the back of his head and said, "Sam, do you know who my favorite character in the Bible is?"
"Take it easy," I said, "you've come to your senses."
"Herod King of Judea," he said, "you won't go away and leave me here alone, Sam?"
I went outside, grabbed the kid by the shoulder and shook it until I couldn't shake it myself.
"If you don't obey," I said, "I'll take you home right away. Do you want to be a good boy or a bad boy?"
"I was just joking," he said, sadly, "and I didn't mean to hurt old Hank. But why did he hit me? I'll be good, Mr. Snake Eyes, as long as you don't chase me away and let me go today." I play the black scout game."
"I don't know how to play this game," I said. "That's between you and Mr. Bill. He's playing with you today. I have something to go out for a while. Well, you come in and make up with him. You hurt someone first." Admit your mistake, or you can go home and leave immediately."
I made him shake hands with Bill and then took Bill aside and told him there was a little village called Poplar Cove three miles out of the cave, and I wanted to find out what Summit was doing to the kidnapping there.I also told him that I would send a letter to old Dorst the same day, stating exactly how much the ransom was demanded, and specifying when and where it should be paid.
"You know, Sam," Bill said, "we played cards together, dodged cops, robbed trains, fended off tornadoes--up the knives, down the flames, and I've been with you through all the odds. I'd never know what to worry about if I hadn't caught this little daredevil. He's got me restless. You ain't gonna be out long. Leave me alone with him, Sam? "
"I'm sure I'll be back this afternoon," I said. "Before I come back, you've got to play him well and keep him out of trouble. Let's write old Dalster now."
Bill and I took out paper and pens to write a letter, while the red chief, with a blanket on his body, was patrolling back and forth at the entrance of the cave.
Bill tearfully begged me to reduce the ransom from two thousand to fifteen.He said: "I don't want to desecrate the sacred love of parents for their children, but we are dealing with people. According to human nature, no one would pay two thousand dollars for this freckled forty-pound wild cat. Ransom. I'd rather have five hundred less. You can charge the difference to my account."
In order to reassure Bill, I agreed, so the two of you wrote a letter like the following:
I wrote Dorst's address on the envelope and put the letter in my pocket.As I was about to leave, the boy came up to me and said:
"Hey, Snake Eye, you said I could play the black scout after you left."
"Go ahead, that's all right," I said. "Mr. Bill will play with you. How's the game?"
"I'll be a black person scout," said the red chief. "I'll ride and tell the folks in the stockade that the Indians are coming. I'm tired of pretending to be Indians. I want to be a black person scout."
"All right," I said, "you can't hurt a hair anyway. I was counting on Mr. Bill to help you fight off those ferocious savages."
"What do you want me to do?" Bill worried, staring at the child.
"Be the horse," said the black scout, "get down and crawl on the ground. How can I get to the stockade without a horse?"
"You don't want to disappoint him," I said to Bill. "Our plan hasn't started yet. Give it a go."
Bill had to get down on the ground, with the look in his eyes like a rabbit caught in a trap.
"How far is it to the stockade, little guy?" he asked timidly.
"Ninety miles," said the black scout, "you've got to get there on time if you risk your life. Go now!"
The black scout jumped on Bill's back, kicking his heels on Bill's waist.
"For God's sake," Bill said, "come back sooner, Sam, the sooner the better. If we knew it, we shouldn't have set the ransom above a thousand dollars. Hey, I say, don't kick me, okay?" If you want to kick again, I will get up and beat you."
I rushed to Yangshuwan, sat down in the post office that also sold groceries, and chatted with local fellows who came in to buy things.Some unshaven guy said that old Ebenezer Dolster's son was either lost or kidnapped, and Pinnacle Town was a mess.All right, I just want to hear the news.I bought some shredded tobacco, asked the price of cowpeas on purpose, and dropped the letter into the mailbox when no one was looking when I walked out of the post office.According to the postmaster, within an hour, the passing mail truck will take this batch of mail to Summit Town.
When I got back to the cave, Bill and the little boy were gone.I searched the nearby places for a while, and I boldly shouted twice, but there was no answer.I had to light my pipe and sit on the grassy mound to wait for the development of the situation.
About half an hour later, there was a rustling sound in the bushes, and Bill got out of it, dragging his shaking body to the small open space in front of the cave.The little boy followed him lightly like a detective, grinning secretly.Bill stood still, took off his hat, and took out a red handkerchief to wipe his sweat.The child stopped, too, about eight feet away from him.
"Sam," Bill said, "I guess you'd say I'm sorry for my friend, but I've been forced to. I'm used to being a man, but there's always a time when you can't stand it. Sent home. It's all over. There were martyrs in ancient times," Bill went on, "who would rather die than change their ways. But none of them ever suffered as inhumanly as I did. I swallowed it because Keeping the agreements we have mutually agreed upon, but there is a limit to patience after all."
"What's the matter, Bill?" I asked.
"I carried him ninety miles to the village without telling him to take a step. Later, the residents were rescued and gave me some oats. After all, the silt on the ground could not replace the fodder. On the way back, I gave me some oats. He went on and on about it for an hour, explaining to him over and over again why holes are empty, why a road can go both ways, and why grass is green. I dare say, Sam, no human being can take that kind of torture. I grabbed his The collar forcibly dragged him down the mountain. Along the way, my two calves were kicked black and blue; my thumb was bitten two or three times, and my whole hand had to be treated by a doctor.”
"But he's gone anyway," Bill went on, "to go home. I pointed the road to Summit and sent him eight feet away. I'm sorry for losing a ransom, but If he's not sent away, Bill Dristel is going to be sent to a madhouse."
Bill was out of breath, but his flushed face looked extraordinarily calm, and he only showed a little satisfaction at the end.
"Bill," I said, "no one in your family has a heart attack, right?"
"No," Bill said, "nobody's got it. Except malaria, and that's an accident. What do you ask?"
"Then you might as well turn around," I said, "and see who's behind you."
Bill turned and saw the little boy.He was shocked, and sat down on the ground, blankly picking up the grass and twigs at hand.I was worried that his brain would go wrong if it went on like this. After thinking about it for an hour, I told him that I had an immediate solution, and that if old Dorst agreed to our terms, we would take the ransom and leave overnight. .Only then did Bill regain his senses, reluctantly gave the child a smiling face, and promised to play a game of Russians fighting Japanese with him when he recovered a bit.
I have a safe withdrawal method that will not fall into any traps and should be introduced to the brethren who make a living by kidnapping.The tree I chose—the big tree under which the reply letter was placed first, and then the ransom money—was very close to the roadside fence, and there was a large open space on all sides.By keeping a few policemen on the lookout, the person who came to fetch the letter could be spotted from a long way across the open, or even on the road.But it will be all right, sir!At eight o'clock I was lying in the tree, sitting like a tree frog waiting for the messenger to arrive.
Sure enough, on time, a half-grown boy came from the main road on a bicycle.He found the cardboard box under the fence post, quickly stuffed it with a folded letter, and then pedaled his bicycle back to Summit Town.
I waited another hour, and being sure that there was no danger, I quietly took the letter, slipped along the fence into the woods, and returned to the cave half an hour later.I opened the letter and leaned over to the lamp and read it to Bill.The letter was written with a pen, and the words were difficult to read.The main contents are as follows:
"Pirates of Penzance, England!" I said. "What a bloody insolence—"
But after I glanced at Bill, I didn't curse out the words that came to my lips.His pleading eyes are so pitiful. I have never seen such a look on anyone's face, whether it is a speechless mute or a talking beast.
"Sam," he said, "what's two hundred and fifty dollars worth? We've got it. If you keep the boy one night longer, I'll be sent to a madhouse. Mr. Dolster only wants us At that price, I think he is not only a perfect gentleman, but a generous man. You don't want to miss this opportunity, do you?"
"I'll tell you the truth, Bill," I said, "that little brat is getting on my nerves a little bit. We'll send him back and get out of here at the loss."
We took him home that night.We told him his father had bought him a silver rifle and Indian clothes specially, and that we were going out to hunt bears next day, and finally got him on the road.
It was exactly twelve o'clock at night when we knocked on the door of Ebenezer's house.According to the original assumption, I should have taken out the fifteen hundred yuan ransom from the cardboard box under the tree at this moment, but now it was Bill who counted out two hundred and fifty yuan and handed it to Dorst.
When the little boy realized that we were about to abandon him, he cried "Wow", the cry was like the howling of a strong wind.He hugged Bill's leg tightly, biting like a leech.His father slowly pulled him over like a plaster.
"How long can you hold him?" Bill asked.
"I'm not as strong as I used to be," said old Dorst, "but I promise you ten minutes."
"That's enough," Bill said. "With ten minutes, I'll be racing across the central, southern, and Midwestern states toward the Canadian border."
It was so dark, and Bill was so fat, and I was kind of a scud, but by the time I caught up with Bill, he was a good mile and a half out of Summit.
Notes:
Notes: