The men hand over the money and the howling boy – who had actually been happier being away from his stricter father and thus does not want to be "rescued" from his more-lenient captors – and flee after the father threatens to turn his son loose on them. The father, who knows his son well and realizes how intolerable he will be to his captors and how desirous they will soon be to rid themselves of the delinquent child, rejects their demand and offers to take the boy off their hands if they pay him.
The criminals write a ransom letter to the boy's father, lowering the ransom from two thousand dollars to fifteen hundred at Bill's suggestion. Calling himself "Red Chief", the boy proceeds to drive his captors to distraction with his unrelenting chatter, malicious pranks, and demands that they play wearying games with him. The specific town in which the story is set is less important than the fact that it is a small community in the southern United States, a place where criminals Sam and Bill believe they will easily be able to.
Sam and Bill run out of town, Bill running much faster despite being less athletic. Johnny clings to Bills leg when he realizes they are leaving him, and Dorset peels him away, saying he can only hold his son for about ten minutes. It looked like a good thing: but wait till I tell you. Bill and Sam sure didn't anticipate the lesson they learned, 'Crime sure doesn't pay' In fact, it'll cost you plenty. First published in The Saturday Evening Post in 1902. But the moment they arrive at their hideout with the boy, the plan begins to unravel. Explanation and Analysis: The Ransom of Red Chief is set in the town of Summit in northeastern Alabama in the early 1900s. At midnight, the men trick Johnny into going back to Dorsets house with them. The Ransom of Red Chief is a fine example of O. Two small-time criminals, Bill and Sam, kidnap Johnny, the 10-year-old red-haired son of an important citizen named Ebenezer Dorset, and hold him for ransom.
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