We took him home that night. We got him to go by telling him that his father had bought him a gun and we were going to hunt bears the next day.
It was twelve o’clock when we knocked on Ebenezer’s front door. Bill counted out two hundred and fifty dollars into Dorset’s hand.
When the boy learned we were planning to leave him at home, he started to cry loudly and held himself as tight as he could to Bill’s leg. His father pulled him away slowly.
“How long can you hold him?” asks Bill.
“I’m not as strong as I used to be,” says old Dorset, “but I think I can promise you ten minutes.”
“Enough,” says Bill. “In ten minutes, I shall cross the Central, Southern and Middle Western states, and be running for the Canadian border.”
And, as dark as it was, and as fat as Bill was, and as good a runner as I am, he was a good mile and a half out of Summit before I could catch up with him.
(MUSIC)
FAITH LAPIDUS: You have heard the American Story “The Ransom of Red Chief” by O. Henry. Your storyteller was Shep O’Neal. This story was adapted into Special English by Shelley Gollust. It was produced by Lawan Davis. Listen again next week for another American Story in VOA Special English. I’m Faith Lapidus.
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