SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: THE RANSOM

"The Ransom" by Cutliffe Hyne  (from Pearson's Magazine, May 1896, as by C. J. Cutcliffe Hyne; reprinted in Twenty and Three Stories by Twenty and Three Writers, edited by Ernest Rhys and C. A. Dawson Scott with the author's name given as "Cutliffe Hyne," 1924 [American edition titled Twenty-Three Stories by Twenty and Three Writers, also 1924]; further reprintings unknown)

Calvert and Methuen were English adventurers who signed on to the Chilean army and were sent to harass the Peruvian guerilla and bandit Garcia, "the most vindictive brute to be found between the Andes and the Pacific."  For four weeks they harried Garcia, shot down his men, and cut off his supplies.  Then they were trapped in an ambush and captured.  Garcia had a reputation for cruelty, and Calvert and Methuen could not expect a merciful death by hanging or by being shot -- Calvert was sure to devise some sort of torture that would leave the two screaming for a quick death.

Garcia's plan was the epitome of cruelty.  One of the two would be hung from a stout branch, slowly strangling.  The other would be placed some sixty yards away and given a rifle.  If he could sever the rope with a shot, both could go free.  If not, or if the rifle shot killed the hanging man, the one with the rifle would be the next to hang.  The rope was sturdy but thin, giving the appearance from a distance of a shoelace.  The man to be hung was Methuen, chosen by the toss of a coin.  Methuen's struggles caused the rope to sway.  Most of the rope was hidden by the shadows in the background and was impossible to see.  The sights on the rifle itself had been altered to make the shot more difficult.

Calvert fired.  And missed.  Again and again.  Somehow -- on the thirteenth shot -- Calvert managed to fray the rope.  But it did not break.  It was time to reload the rifle but an exploded cartridge had jammed the breach.  As Calvert worked franticly to ready the rifle, his compatriot seemed to stop struggling.  He fired.  Again and again.  Twice more a bullet frayed the rope but it did not break.  The bullet glancing the rope caused the body to again swing back and forth.  Finally, Garcia had had enpough and allowed Calvert one final shot...

A simple tale of cruelty in a cruel world, with the tension mounting as each bullet is fired.

C. J. Cutcliffe Hyne (1886-1944) was a popular English novelist perhaps best remembered to day for The Lost Continent:  The Story of Atlantis (1899), an often reprinted fantasy, most notably as the 42nd book in Lin Carter's Ballantine Adult Fantasy series.  Hyne was also noted for his series of stories about Captain Kettle, who first appeared as a minor character in the novel Honour of Thieves (1895); when Pearson's Magazine decided it needed a continuing character who might match the popularity of The Strand Magazine's Sherlock Holmes, Captain Kettle fit the bill.  He first appeared in three separate series of twelve stories each,. beginning in 1896 and appearing over the next four years; they were eventually published in the collections The Adventures of Captain Kettle(1898), Further Adventures of Captain Kettle (1899), and Captain Kettle K. C. B. (1903).  Another eight books about Captain Kettle were published through 1938.  (An interesting note:  Kettle, as depicted by illustrator Stanley J. Wood, bore a striking resemblance to novelist [and sailor] Joseph Conrad; Conrad would later "borrow whole phrases, key episodes, and images from the Kettle stories for Heart of Darkness.")  Other popular works by Hyne included The Recipe for Diamonds (1893) and Kate Meredith, Financier (1906).  Hyne also published 18 books under the pen name "Weatherby Chesney," including The Adventures of a Solicitor (1898).

The American edition of Twenty-Three Stories is available online.