A very brief summary for a reader's diary
Two scammers were going to speculate in land plots, and for this they lacked two thousand dollars. They decided to get them by kidnapping the only son of an important townsman and receiving a ransom for his release. They succeeded, but the boy turned out to be not a timid one, with hooligan tendencies. He completely intimidated one of the kidnappers, intending to scalp him and forcing him to play Indians and scouts, and the other kidnapper began to fear him. The boy did not want to return home, because it was boring there and he was tired of going to school.
The swindlers wrote a letter to his father with an offer to ransom his son. The answer contained a counteroffer - they would pay the boy's father $250 to take him home.
The scammers had to agree to this, since one of them was already on the verge of madness from the captive’s tricks.
"Leader of the Redskins" plot
«The leader of the Redskins
"(eng.
The Ransom of Red Chief
) is a short story by the American writer O. Henry, included in the collection Whirligigs
,
published in 1910 by Doubleday, Page & Company.
"Leader of the Redskins" plot
The action of the novel takes place in one of the towns in the American state of Alabama. Two crooks, Sam and Bill Driscoll, are in dire need of money. In order to get them, they kidnap a teenager, the son of an influential provincial townsman, Ebenezer Dorset, hide the young man in a cave in the forest, and intend to send a letter to his father demanding a ransom of $2,000. However, the boy, who calls himself the Chief of the Redskins, takes all this for a game and believes that he is on an exciting trip - he does not at all strive to return home. Moreover, he involves Bill and Sam in his game of Indians - so much so that he simply imposes his own rules on them. The comedy of the situation increases even more from the fact that the villains turn out to be completely helpless in the face of childish spontaneity. Driven almost to despair, Bill no longer knows how to get rid of this Leader and simply drives the boy home.
| “Sam,” says Bill, “you might think I’m a traitor, but I just couldn’t stand it.” I am an adult, capable of self-defense, and my habits are courageous, but there are times when everything goes to waste - both self-esteem and self-control. The boy left. I sent him home. Everything is over. There were martyrs in the old days who were ready to accept death rather than give up their beloved profession. But none of them were subjected to such supernatural torture as I was. I wanted to remain faithful to our predatory charter, but I didn’t have the strength. |
However, the boy does not even think about leaving and returns to Sam and Bill. Then they decide to reduce the ransom amount to $1,500 and hastily send a threatening letter, confident that the boy’s parents will pay them the money and take the boy away. But the impossible happens: Mr. Dorset not only refuses to pay the ransom, but invites the “two villains” to pay him $250 for taking Johnny back. To top it all off, it turns out that it is necessary to hand over the child only at night, so that the neighbors do not interfere with this. Sam and Bill agree.
| When the boy discovered that we were going to leave him at home, he started howling like a steamship siren and clung to Bill's leg like a leech. His father tore it off his leg like a sticky plaster. “How long can you hold it?” asks Bill. “My strength is not what it used to be,” says old Dorset, “but I think I can guarantee you in ten minutes.” “That’s enough,” says Bill. “In ten minutes I’ll cross the Central, Southern and Midwestern states and have time to freely reach the Canadian border.” Although the night was very dark, and Bill was very fat, and I could run very fast, I only overtook him a mile and a half from the city. |
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Brief summary (more detailed than summary)
Two scammers, Sam and Bill, came up with the idea to kidnap a child for ransom. They believed that the love of children was highly developed in the town of Vershina, and that this town could only send a few constables in pursuit. They decided to kidnap the only son of a prominent townsman, Ebenezer Dorset, because they thought that he would pay at least two thousand dollars for his child. Not far from the city, in a cave, the swindlers stored provisions and in the evening rode in a charabanc past Dorset's house. His son, a freckled boy of about ten years old, was throwing stones at the kitten who was sitting on the fence.
Bill offered him a ride and a bag of candy, but in response he received a piece of brick in the eye. The scammers grabbed the boy, although he fought hard, shoved him into a charabanc and arrived at the cave. When it got dark, Sam drove the charabanc to the village where he was hired.
When he returned, he saw that Bill was covering the abrasions and scratches on his face with a plaster. The boy aimed a stick at Sam and asked how he dared to come to the Redskin Chief's camp.
Bill explained that they were playing Indians, that he was the old hunter Henk, captured by the Redskin Chief, and at dawn he would be scalped.
The boy really liked life in the cave. He forgot that he was a prisoner. He called Sam Snake Eyes and the Spy and promised to roast him at the stake when the sun rose. Bill was intimidated by the warlike Chief, who let out an eerie war cry from time to time.
The boy said that he had fun here, but was not interested at home, and he didn’t want to go to school. At night, Sam woke up from a terrible squeal - it was Bill squealing desperately, on whose chest the Redskin Leader was sitting, clutching his hair with one hand. He tried to scalp the prisoner with a knife. Sam took the knife from the boy and put him to bed. But from then on, Bill did not sleep a wink while the boy was with them. Sam dozed off, but remembered that the Chief of the Redskins intended to burn him at the stake at sunrise. Bill realized that Sam was afraid and told him so, although he did not admit it. Bill did not believe that money would be paid for such a little devil, and Sam believed that parents adore such hooligans.
Sam climbed the mountain and looked around, expecting to see farmers looking for kidnappers, but the landscape was peaceful. When Sam returned, he saw that Bill was pressed against the wall, and the boy wanted to hit him with a large stone. Bill complained that the prisoner put a hot potato down his collar and they had to pull his ears. Sam settled this misunderstanding, but the boy threatened to take revenge on Bill.
Soon the crooks heard a war cry, and Sam barely dodged the sling that the boy was spinning. Bill couldn't dodge and was hit in the head with a stone. Sam told the boy that if he didn't behave, he would send him home. He said that he would obey.
Sam went to the village to find out what they were saying about the kidnapping. But first he suggested writing a letter to old Dorset. Bill tearfully asked for a ransom of one and a half thousand instead of two thousand dollars, because he believed that a large ransom would not be paid for such a child. Sam agreed.
In the village, he talked with farmers, one of whom said that Ebenezer Dorset's son had been stolen in the city. Sam put the letter in the mailbox and returned to the cave. There was no one there. Half an hour later Bill arrived, followed by a grinning boy.
Bill said that he sent the boy home because he could no longer play with him: he was a horse, and the boy rode him and fed him sand instead of oats. He also said that it was a pity for the ransom, but otherwise he would go crazy.
Sam asked if he had heart disease in his family and, receiving a negative answer, told Bill to turn around. When he saw the boy, he turned pale and fell. Only an hour later Sam stopped fearing for his sanity and said that he would receive the ransom today.
He hid in a tree. At the appointed time, a teenager rode up on a bicycle, found a box under a pole, put a piece of paper in it and left. The note outlined a counter-offer from Dorset, who agreed to take Johnny back if they paid $250. Moreover, he advised him to come at night so as not to get hurt by the neighbors, who would be upset that Johnny was brought home.
Sam began to be indignant, but Bill said that he would be taken to an insane asylum if the boy stayed with them one more night, and that Dorset had made them a generous offer. Sam said that the boy got on his nerves too.
At night they took Johnny home, telling him that his father had bought him moccasins and a rifle and that tomorrow they would go bear hunting with him.
Bill counted out the money to Dorset, and the boy, realizing that he had been tricked, grabbed Bill's leg. His father barely pulled him off his leg. Bill asked how long he could hold his son, to which the old man said about ten minutes. Bill was satisfied with this. Sam caught up with him only a mile and a half from the city.
Summary
Two adventurer friends, Bill and Sam, arrived in Alabama. The friends lack two thousand dollars to carry out the speculation, so they decide to go for the kidnapping.
They chose Colonel Dorset's son as their victim. Friends were sure that one of the wealthiest people in the town would definitely pay a tidy sum for his son. For the boy, the adventurers prepared a cave a couple of miles from the town. Seizing the right moment, Sam and Bill pounced on the child, who, however, turned out to be strong enough for his young age.
To the surprise of his friends, the boy was not afraid of them at all. On the contrary, he began to perceive his kidnapping as a game, proclaiming himself the Leader of the Redskins. Sam received the nickname Snake Eyes, and Bill began to be called Hank. Sometimes Johnny would chatter something continuously or curry favor with the white-faced “scouts,” and then let out a menacing cry.
One day the boy promised to scalp Hank. As it turned out later, he did not throw his words to the wind. At dawn, Sam witnessed Johnny using a knife to try to remove the skin from Bill's head. He managed to save his friend and put the boy to bed. Sam himself could no longer close his eyes, because the Leader of the Redskins promised to burn him at the stake.
Bill began to doubt that anyone would even be willing to pay for the return of such a child. Sam went to check the situation, and he was surprised by the fact that in Colonel Dorset’s family everyone behaved as if nothing had happened. Returning to the cave, he miraculously managed to save the life of Bill, whose skull Johnny was about to crush with a huge stone.
Tired of the restless boy's taunts, Bill asks Sam to reduce the ransom demand by one and a half times. Meanwhile, Johnny wanted to play scout, and Bill was assigned the role of a horse. Having learned about this, he was ready to reduce the ransom even more, but Sam had already left for Dorset.
The photo shows how Johnny made Bill his steed.
Upon returning, Sam found neither the boy nor Bill. Bill returned and said that he brought the boy home because his patience had reached its limit. What a disappointment the adventurer was when Johnny stood behind him, who had no plans to return to his family.
A little later, friends received a letter from Dorset, in which he put forward a counter-offer - he was ready to accept his son if the kidnappers paid two hundred and fifty dollars. In the letter, he asked to return the boy at night so that the neighbors would not see this, believing that the tomboy was missing.
Friends lured Johnny home by cunning. Colonel Dorset told them that he could hold the boy for no more than ten minutes, since his arms had become noticeably weaker with age. However, Sam and Bill would have had time to cross the borders of several states just to escape from the obnoxious boy.
Summary of the story “The Leader of the Redskins” in detail
Two friends Bill and Sam do not have enough money, namely $2,000, to carry out the adventure they have come up with, so the friends decide to kidnap them.
Bill and Sam prepared a cave 2 miles from the town of Apex. They chose the son of a wealthy businessman, Ebenezer Dorset, to kidnap him. After waiting a moment, Sam and Bill grabbed the boy and took him to that very cave. All that remained was to set the ransom amount.
Upon arrival at the cave, the friends discovered that the boy was not afraid at all; he took it as a game, calling himself “Leader of the Redskins.” He said that he was bored at home and had nothing to do, so such an adventure was like a gift for him. Having given nicknames to his captors, calling Sam Snake Eyes and Bill Hank, he began his game. Johnny frantically rushed around the cave and constantly uttered a loud cry, which got on the nerves of the kidnappers.
At one point the boy became very angry and constantly talked about different things, mostly nonsense. During his monologue, he promised to scalp Bill's head and burn Sam at the stake. At night, the “Leader of the Redskins” really tried to scalp Bill, but after seeing this, Sam saved his comrade, but could no longer sleep, because he was afraid that Johnny would set him on fire.
Little by little, the friends begin to doubt that someone is going to give a ransom for the boy. Sam goes on reconnaissance to Johnny's hometown, where he finds out that the boy is missing, as if no one noticed, and everything goes on as usual. Returning to the cave, he once again saves Bill from a boy who almost broke the kidnapper's head with a stone.
Sam tries to reconcile the “Leader of the Redskins” with his friend, forcing them to even shake hands. But the boy is tired of playing Indians, and now he wants to play scouts. Sam lets him and says that his friend Bill will play with him.
At the same moment, the kidnappers decide to reduce the ransom price from two thousand dollars to one and a half thousand. They write a letter with the terms of the ransom, which a little later Sam takes to the city, where he finds out that people are a little agitated by the loss of the boy.
Sam returns to the cave, but finds neither Johnny nor Bill. After some time, his friend returns and says that the boy gave him the role of a horse, saddled him and drove him for a very long time all the way to the convoy. As a result, the man could not stand it, grabbed him and dragged him back to the city, while he kicked and bit, for his age the boy was very strong and lively. But it turns out that all this time Johnny was standing behind Bill, he followed him from the city itself, but he didn’t notice.
After some time, instead of money, the kidnappers receive a note from Mr. Dorset, which says that he is not going to pay them this money, but instead the bandits themselves should bring the boy home, preferably at night, and pay another $250 in compensation on top, because the neighbors We are very glad that Johnny was kidnapped and he doesn’t know what the neighbors can do to the person who brings the boy back home.
The friends were too exhausted by Johnny's games and his activity and without thinking twice, that very night they took the boy back to the city. Once in the hands of his father, Johnny became very upset, began to cry and clutch at his captors, because he was having fun with them. Handing the money into Ebenezer's hands, Beale asked how much time they had to escape, to which Dorset replied that about ten minutes. Rejoicing, Sem and Bil very quickly left the city, although it was a dark night and Bil was very fat, Sem could not keep up with him.
