Answer the following questions:
a) Which part of the United States of America is this story set in?
Ans: The story is set in a small town, a semi-rural community called Summit, down south in Alabama in the United States of America.
b) Why did the two men decide to kidnap someone?
Ans: The two men, Bill Driscoll and his accomplice Sam, had 400 dollars and needed to buy a plot of land in Western Illinois for 600 dollars, for which they were shy of 200 dollars.
c) What is the first sign we have that the kidnappers have picked a difficult victim?
Ans: The first sign that the reader gets about the difficult nature of the kidnapping victim is that the little boy was throwing rocks at an innocent kitten. The next thing that the boy does is throw a brick at Bill Driscoll when he makes a friendly gesture to the unwary boy by offering him candy.
d) What do we learn about Ebenezer Dorset?
Ans: Ebenezer Dorset was the father of the ten-year-old kidnapping victim. We learn that he was a rich and prominent citizen of the small township Summit, who also held quite an influence in town because of his wealth and the position of authority that he had acquired by lending mortgages and making foreclosures.
e) What other crimes have Sam and Bill committed?
Ans: When Bill tells Sam about all the times that they have stood by each other, we get a glimpse into the fact that they are hardened outlaws who have been involved in crimes such as gambling, dynamite outrages, and train robberies. They have also stuck together in sticky situations like police raids.
f) What do we learn about Johnny Dorset?
Ans: We learn that little Johnny Dorset is the difficult and presumably disobedient son of Ebenezer Dorset. He is a restless and reckless, oblivious albeit inquisitive little boy whose shenanigans result.
g) What games did Johnny play?
Ans: With his wild imagination, little Johnny never had a dearth of games he could play. Before being kidnapped, he made a game of throwing rocks at an innocent kitten. When he had been kidnapped, the unaware little boy turned that into a camping trip for himself wherein he decided to play ‘pretend’ and assumed the role of ‘Red Indian Chief’ who had taken victims. The reader is later informed that the child also made a pretend horse.