The Ransom of Red Chief

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"The Ransom of Red Chief" is a 1910 short story by O. Henry.

The story tells of a young boy kidnapped by two men for a ransom. Bill Driscoll and Sam Howard are two fugitives who have escaped to the deep south in order to find money to pay their own bonds of dollars. The town to which they pay their visit is fictional Summit, Alabama. Bill says the reason for choosing this town in particular is because of philoprogenitiveness - love for one's own children - that he asserts is common in semi-rural communities. The men need money to pull off another "fraudulent town-lot scheme" in western Illionis. After constructing a plan: Steal the son of the mayor, send a ransom of $2000, secretly exchange the son for the money, and be on their way, the two men find that their plan backfires. Red Chief actually enjoys his stay with his kidnappers, and thinks he's on a camping trip. Red Chief's favorite game to play was "Scout" with Bill, whom he called "Old Hank" and Sam, whom he called "Snake Eye's". Bill and Sam discover that Red Chief is actually a ruthless little terror that no one would want to be involved with. Due to the lowering tolerance for this nuisance and a reasonable offer by the boy's father, Ebenezer Dorset, the two kidnappers decide to give him $250 in exchange for taking Red Chief back. Dorset then took the kid back while Sam and Bill ran quickly away from the town.