By Heleen
The
kidnapping
It
was early in the morning,
“I am
going away for two days for business,” said John. “Blue, you take over my job
and you get all the responsibilities, is that clear?”
“
Buck
said, “Blue, your Uncle Buck is proud of you!”
“Thank
you, Uncle Buck,” said Blue.
After
breakfast, John stood up and asked Sam to get his horse.
“Pa,”
said Blue, “I’ll take very good care of the ranch, I promise you that!”
“Good, my boy,” said John.
When
John had left, Sara came outside with little Johnny and Johnny said to his father,
“May I watch the horses, daddy?”
“Yes,”
said Blue, “Come, we’ll go watch the horses for a few minutes.”
Sara
went with them. “Blue, do you have often take over
your father’s ranch?” she asked.
“Yes,
I have done this two times, but sometimes the men do not take me seriously.”
“What
do they do?” said Sara.
“Oh,
I’ll tell you that later.”
“Papa,
aren’t the horses sweet? May I sit on a horse?” said Johnny.
“No,
said Blue strictly, “You are too little for that. When you are older I will
teach you.”
“Come,”
said Sara, “it’s time to go inside. We can’t stay the whole day with the
horses.”
She took Johnny inside and Blue went to do his
work. He called the men to go with the cattle and start the branding. After a few hours there
came along a gang of bandits, who shot at them, about fifteen bandits.
They shot at everything they saw.
“Hurry,
hide yourself,” shouted Blue to the men. The men hid themselves in the bush and
shot at the bandits. The cows ran away. It was a big fight.
In
the meantime, two men escaped and rode to the ranch
Jack
said, “I have heard that the son of John Cannon has a little boy. Let’s kidnap
him and ask money for him. I think we can ask a lot of money for him. What you
think about 10,000 dollars?”
“That sounds good,” said Adam.
They
were almost at the ranch and took a rest for a while to have a drink.
“Let’s
discuss how we can do it.”
“Okay,”
said Adam.
“What
do you reckon, we start when it’s dark. We sneak into
the house and take the boy with us.”
First,
they must find out which room he’s sleeping in. They walk very quietly into the
house and open the door of one of the rooms, closing it softly when they find
out that it’s the wrong room. Finally they find the correct room and take the
boy with them. They hold a hand over the boy’s mouth so he can’t scream. Johnny
was choked and started to cry. Jack kept his hand over the boy’s mouth so he
couldn’t utter a sound. Johnny struggled, and kicked his legs in panic.
“Let’s
hurry before they discover that the boy is gone!”
They rode away very fast.
In the meantime the
fight was over, and the bandits defeated.
“Let’s
stay here the night and leave very early in the morning,” said Blue
So
they slept till six, then rode back home as fast they could. The cows had come
back again.
When
they arrived, Sara was very upset and ran to her husband. “Oh, Blue, Johnny is
gone!”
“What!
Johnny gone! What happened?” cried Blue.
Buck
and Manolito saw that Blue was upset too. “What’s going on, Blue boy?” said
Buck
“Johnny
is gone! We must search the whole ranch. Where he can be?”
Manolito
ran to tell Sam, Pedro and
“He can’t
be far, not that little boy,” said Pedro.
“I’m not sure of that,” Sam said.
They
searched the whole ranch, but they didn’t find anything.
“Blue,”
said Buck, “Perhaps he’s not on the ranch. Maybe someone took him.”
Sara was crying, she was so upset.
“Sara,
we’ll keep searching.”
“Try
to relax a bit,”
In
the meantime, the men were resting and writing a letter asking for money for
the little boy.
“We’ll
ask 10,000 dollars for the boy, if they don’t pay we kill him.” said Jack.
“Now, who takes the letter to them?”
“Okay, I will do that,” said Adam. “I’ll go
when it is dark and put that letter on the table.”
Johnny
was crying and shouting, calling for his mommy and daddy. “I wanna go home,
please!”
“Shut
your mouth!” said Adam. “Because if you don’t stop shouting
I’ll gag you.”
Johnny
was so scared that he kept quiet.
“Here
is your drink and your food and after that you go sleep, do you understand?”
“Yes sir,” said Johnny.
Searching
In
the meantime they were searching everywhere for little Johnny.
“
“Okay,”
said Sam, “Let’s go men.”
Blue
was all torn up inside, his only boy gone. After searching for many hours they
had to rest.
“Here
take some water Blue, you need that,”
“Yes,”
said Blue, sad and depressed.
The
hours passed and it was soon dark. The men came back to Blue and said, “We’ll
never find anything in the dark. Let’s go home and tomorrow we go on searching
for the boy.”
They
rode back home.
In
the meantime Adam reached the ranch and walked silently into the house and put
the letter on the table and left immediately.
Sara read
the letter too, and she was very upset. In the meantime Blue came back home and
Sara ran out with the letter, crying, and gave it to Blue.
“When
you find this letter?” he said.
“I
don’t know.
“I
didn’t see it earlier,” said
“It’s
possible that he’s not so very far from here,” Blue said, “But I don’t have the
money they’re asking for and they say if they don’t get it in two days they
will kill the boy! Where can I find the money?
Let’s go, we need to search again.
I will get my son back!”
Everyone
went searching again. They were tired but they knew they must find little
Johnny.
The kidnappers
In
the meantime Adam was far away from the ranch and riding back to Jack and the
child.
After
many hours of riding he found them.
“I
put the letter on the table” said Adam.
“Good,”
said Jack, “Now we have to wait for an answer from them.”
“Mister,”
said Johnny, “I’m hungry! May I have something to eat?”
“Okay,
and then you keep your mouth shut, is that clear?”
“Yes,”
said Johnny sadly. So he got his food and kept his mouth shut and was very
afraid he would never see his mom and dad again.
Adam
said, “What will we do if anything goes wrong?”
“Don’t
think of that. We must wait and see what happens.”
“Okay,
we’ll wait,” said Adam
Big John
In
the meantime Big John came home.
“Oh
John,” said
John
read the letter and was shocked. “I’ll go to the bank for the money and after
that I’ll go to Blue.”
So he
went hurriedly to the bank and got the money. Many hours later he found Blue
and the others. He shouted for Blue, and Blue stopped for a few minutes.
“Blue
I got the money for the boy,”
“You
did, Pa? Thank you for helping me
“It’s okay boy. Let’s go after the men who
have Johnny.”
John
and the others went after the men. Then, in the distance they saw two men and a
little kid.
“That’s
them!” said John
They
came close to the men and started to negotiate with them.
“Give
me the child back,” said John, “if you want the money we’ll do it at the same time.
You hand over the boy and we’ll hand over the money.”
“First,”
said Jack. “let’s see if there is any money in the
bag!”
“Okay,”
said John and opened the bag.
“Now
count the money!” ordered Jack, holding a knife to the boy’s throat.
Johnny
was so scared and he was crying. Big John counted out the money and said, “Okay
now give us the boy!”
The
boy ran to his father and cried a lot. Blue took his son and put him on his
horse and rode away home as quickly as possible. John handed over the money at
the same time little Johnny ran to his dad. The men took it and rode away in a
hurry!
“Daddy,
I was so scared I would never see you and momma again.”
“Don’t
you worry any more. I’m so glad you are back now and
we’ll soon be home.”
Big
John said to Mano and Buck, “I’m not going to let them keep the money. They
need punishment.”
“We’ll
go after them. Let’s go!” Mano said. “I know a short cut, then
we’ll catch them.”
“All
right let’s go,” said Buck.
John,
Buck and Manolito chased after the men to get the money back from them.
“The
men must be far away, they had two hours head start after we gave them the
money,” said Manolito.
“I
must have the money back before I go back to the ranch,” said John
“All
right but the chance that we’ll find them before nightfall is very small,” said
Manolito
Buck
said, “Okay, let’s keep riding for now.”
So
they rode again, and after four hours riding they stopped again for a drink and
something to eat. They rested for twenty minutes and then rode again.
The
hours passed and the night came. They stopped to sleep and John said, “Someone
must stay awake and keep watch.”
“Let
me do that, Big John,” said Buck.
“Okay,”
said John.
So
they slept. Buck tried walking around but finally he could keep awake no longer
and slept too.
“Buck
I told you to keep watch, but here I find you asleep,” said John in the
morning.
“Sorry,”
said Buck, “I was so tired.”
“Here
is your food and after that we go on again.”
After
breakfast they left again. They rode for hours then Manolito looked around and
saw a man on a horse that was riding fast. “John, there is a man riding fast up
into the mountains!”
“Let’s
go!” said John.
They were
riding as fast as they could. And many hours later they found them.
“We
need to surround them. Buck, you go to the back of them and Mano, you go the
other side,” said John.
The
men were sitting down to rest and had no idea that they were surrounded. They
were talking about what they would do with the money.
“Hey
Mister!” yelled John aiming his gun at them. “Keep your hands up or I shoot
you!” The men kept their hands high.
“What
do you want from us?”
“The money, or I shoot.”
“We
lost it,” Jack said.
“Don’t
lie! I heard you talking about the money,” said John.
Adam
reached for his gun to try and shoot John but John was quicker and shot him in
the arm.
“Is
that enough punishment for you or do you need more?” said John.
Jack
gave him the money and John said, “You’ll go with us to the sheriff.”
So
they went with them. Many hours later they were in
“So
the job is done, and the money is back and I’ll take it to the bank now.”
“Okay
John, we’ll wait for you in the saloon.”
John
smiled because he knew why Buck wanted to wait in the saloon. He knew he would
drink some beer. Later, when John came back they all rode for home.
On
the ranch
In the
meantime, Sara was upset and
Sara
said, “I can’t stop worrying till my little boy is back.”
At
that moment Blue came back home with the boy.
Sara
and Victoria ran outside, Sara crying with happiness to see her little son
safe. “Oh Blue, I am so happy that you found him. Where are your father and
your uncle and Manolito and the others?”
“They
are chasing after the kidnappers, they need to be punished.”
“Mama, I was so scared,” said little Johnny
“You
don’t have to be afraid anymore, you are safe now,” said Blue.
The
hours passed, and in the evening the men were back in time for dinner.
“Hello
“Yes,
John the dinner is ready now!”
Blue
said, “Pa, thank you for what you did for me and my family. Do you have the
money back now?”
“Yes,
my son!”
That
night as they were sitting round the table John said to little Johnny, “We shall
taking better care of you from now on. You don’t need to be afraid that this
will ever happen again.”
“Thank
you grandfather,” said Johnny.
John’s
thoughts turned to wondering how it would be when Johnny was a big boy and if
he would be just like Blue. Would he behave himself as he grew and would he be
as good an adult as Blue?
“No,”
said John, “there is nothing.”
End of story