Did you like the ending? was it unexpected or did you anticipate it?

The story ends with Bill and Sam running out of town after having completed the kidnapping-for-ransom deal. However, in O. Henry’s comic reimagining of a kidnapping-for-ransom plot, rather than being paid to give the captive boy back, the men have had to pay the boy’s father to hold him back. I think the ending works well with the comedic tone of the narrative.