It was a gorgeous day.  The sky was a pristine blue, Robin's meadow was carpeted in the bright colors of wildflowers, the wild grass was a Kelly green, the surrounding mountains looked like they were covered in dark green velvet and only a few peaks were still tipped with snow.  The air was comfortably warm and a cool breeze would rustle through the tall pines of the surrounding forest.  The only sounds were the babbling stream that ran through the middle of the meadow, the occasional cry of a Bald Eagle soaring in the sly overhead and the thump of Robin's saw as she trimmed some logs to repair the fence that surrounded the small grazing paddock that was shared by Robin's only milk cow and Obsidian's Fire.

 
Robin stood with one foot on the ground and the other braced against the long log she was sawing and held the end of her saw in both hands.  She was dressed in a pair of blue jeans and an underwear shirt that the sleeves had been cut off of and the neckline cut down so that it had narrow straps at the shoulders instead of sleeves and her tanned skin glistened with perspiration as she worked the saw back and forth through the log.  Her long red hair was tied back in a pony tail and a bandana was rolled up and tied around her head to keep sweat from dripping into her eyes as she worked.  When the saw's blade cleared the log, she straightened up...stretching the muscles in her back and picked up her canteen and, greedily, drank almost all of its contents of cool spring water then she poured the rest of the water in the canteen over her head to cool herself off.  She bent over to tie two ends of a rope around the end of the log she had just shortened so she could use the rope to pull the log over to the place in the paddock fence that needed to be repaired.  As she stepped into the “loop” of the rope, positioned it around the front of her waist and took a couple of steps forward the sound of an approaching horse echoed into the meadow.  Robin turned to see who was coming and saw a single rider come galloping into the meadow.

 
“Sheriff!” the rider called as he jumped his horse over the stream instead of using the bridge that was just wide enough that a buckboard wagon could make it across the bridge with a few inches on each side to spare.  “They need you in town,” he called as he reined his horse to a stop so sudden that the horse's front hooves actually slid a few inches in the loose dirt.

 
As soon as the rider had cleared the stream, he was close enough for Robin to recognize him as Deputy Lewis's teenaged brother.  “What's wrong, Tommy?”  she asked as she dropped the rope and stepped out of it, looking up at the boy.

 
“Someone tried to rob the bank and they have him pinned down in it,” Tommy said, his horse picking up on his anxiety and prancing around in a circle as its young rider tried to keep it under control.  “My brother told me to come get you.”

 
“Who's “they?”  Robin asked as she grabbed the deerskin shirt that was hanging over the hitching post in front of her cabin and slipped it on.  Then she grabbed her holster that was also hanging over the railing and strapped it around her waist.

 
“My brother, Mr. Wells, Mr. Evans, Mr. Franklin and some stranger that just happened to come into town when all hell broke loose and he offered to help,” Tommy answered.

 
Robin quickly removed her headband and grabbed her hat, putting it on and untying Sid from the hitching post.  “Is anyone hurt?” she asked as she climbed into the saddle and reined Sid in the direction that Tommy had come.

 
“There were shots fired inside the bank but the robber hasn't let anyone come out so I don't know if Mr. Payne is hurt or not,” Tommy answered.

 
Robin nudged her horse with the heels of her boots and Sid took off at a full gallop with Tommy close behind.

 
The sound of the gun battle could be heard even before Robin entered the city limits.  The bank was on the West side of the street directly across from the General Store so Robin rode down the narrow roadway that ran behind the buildings on the East side of the town's main street (used for store deliveries, etc.) and tied Sid behind the General Store.  She grabbed her rifle and ran down the alley between the General Store and the Barber Shop.  As she approached the end of the alley she felt the buzz of another Immortal and frowned but a bullet zipping by her and embedding itself in the wood siding of the building to her right, sending splinters of wood flying made wondering about who the Immortal was unimportant at the moment.  She dove for cover behind one of the watering troughs in front of the store.  She turned over so that the back of her shoulders were against the trough and looked around her.

 
Wells and Evans were kneeling behind one of the other troughs in front of the store, taking turns raising up long enough to fire a couple of shots from their rifles in the direction of the bank.  Harry stood behind the wooden Indian statue in front of the Barber Shop, trying to make himself smaller so that he could actually hide there but Robin couldn't see her deputy anywhere.  She looked over at back of the man next to her behind the trough just as he turned over and looked at her.  A bullet hit the water in the trough, splashing both Robin and....

 
“MacLeod?” Robin said, looking at the Immortal who she had helped out eight months ago while hunting Duane Mattox.

 
MacLeod flashed one of his award winning smiles and tapped the brim of his hat in a mock salute.  “Madam Sheriff,” he said, ducking as another bullet dug into the Porch post next to him, causing splinters of wood to shower down on him.

 
Robin quickly turned over and raised up, leveling off her rifle over the top of the trough and firing two shots at the front window of the bank.  Then she ducked back down behind the trough and cocked her rifle so that it would be ready for the next volley.

 
“Did you bring all of this with you?”  Robin asked, looking at MacLeod and quirking an eyebrow, questioningly.

 
“No.  I sort of happened along just as it was starting,” MacLeod answered and reached around the end of the trough and fired at the front of the bank.  “They looked like they could use the help,” he added as he turned back around and reloaded his rifle.

 
“Have you seen my deputy?”  Robin asked, ducking as a bullet shattered the glass of the General Store's front window showering the boardwalk and them with glass.

 
MacLeod pointed to the body Robin now saw lying on the ground on the other side of a buckboard wagon that setting in front of the Barber Shop.  “Right after he sent for you, he tried to talk who ever's inside the bank into coming out peacefully and ended up taking one in the throat,” he explained.

 
“Damn!”  Robin exclaimed and winced as she thought of poor Tommy.  His brother was the only family he had, as their father, a US Calvary officer, was killed at Wounded Knee and their mother had died four of years ago from Diphtheria  Robert Lewis had taken on the responsibility of raising Tommy who was just barely fourteen years old.  A bullet zipped into the dirt next to her and brought her back to the present situation.  “How many are there in the bank?”  She asked, taking off her hat and trying to peak over the top of the trough.

 
“As far as I can tell...just one,” MacLeod said.  “But he must have an arsenal in there with him because he has been able to keep us at bay with very few and short reload breaks.”

 
“Has he said anything?”  Robin asked as another bullet splashed trough water in her face and she ducked back down.

 
“He said he was coming out once and we thought he was going to step out with a hostage but he must have changed his mind because he just started shooting at us again,” MacLeod explained.

 
“Do we know what the status of the bank owner is?”  Robin said looking down the street at the clock tower that would, someday, sit in front of a city hall/courthouse.  It was mid morning so Mr. Payne would have been in the bank alone.  His assistant/clerk didn't come in until just before lunch time.

 
“Haven't heard one way or the other,” MacLeod answered.

 
Robin rolled onto her side so she could peer around the end of the trough.  She cleared her throat and took a deep breath.  “You in the bank!”  She called out.  “This is Sheriff Scott.”  She looked over at Harry and, in a loud whisper, said, “cover the back side of the bank.” She knew that there wasn't an actual back door to the bank but Payne's office was at the back of the building and it had a window that, although small, could be used as an escape route...unless the man that was going to climb through it was a big man.  As Harry ducked into the alley between the store and the Barber Shop and headed for the backside of the buildings on the West side of the street, Robin called out, “you might as well face the fact that you're not going to leave this town.  Even if you walk out of there empty handed....you killed my deputy and I will see that you hang for that.  So you can either give yourself up or make a break for it and give me the opportunity to shoot you down.  Either way....you are no longer a free man.”

 
The man in the bank fired two shots in Robin's direction, forcing her to duck further behind the watering trough as his response.

 
“I want to talk to the bank owner, Mr. Payne,” Robin called out.

 
“I'm sorry.  Mr. Payne is incommunicado at the moment,” came the answer from inside the bank.

 
“If he's injured, let him come out so our doctor can tend to him,” Robin called out.

 
“He's not exactly injured,” the man in the bank called back.

 
“Is he alive?” Robin called out.

 
“I don't know.  I ain't no doctor,” the man in the bank responded.  “But I didn't do nothin' to him.  He just keeled over when I told him to open the safe and fill my bag.”

 
“****!”  Robin swore.  “Payne has a bad ticker.  He probably had a heart attack,” she said, more to herself than to MacLeod.
Roger raised up and fired two shots at the bank.  Robin didn't know if the store owner was actually trying to hit the robber or if he was just firing for effect because after he fired the first shot the robber retaliated in kind and Roger was ducking as he fired the second shot which went God knows where.

 
“What's it going to be?”  Robin called out.  She expected a round of bullets to answer her question but she was met with silence.  “Hello in the bank.  What's your answer?”  Then she heard breaking glass in the distance and a round of rifle fire coming from behind the bank and she knew that the robber had attempted to escape through Payne's office window and had met with Harry.  She hoped that Harry had not only foiled the robber's escape attempt but that he had, at least, wounded the guy.  Her answer came when several bullets hit the hitching post, water trough and the ground nearby.  She leaned over MacLeod and in a loud whisper, said, “Roger....do you still have that bow and quiver for sale in your store?”

 
The store owner looked around the Mayor at Robin and nodded.  “You want me to get it for you?”  He asked.

 
Robin shook her head.  “I'll get it.  Cover me,” she said to Wells, Evans and MacLeod and as they fired a round of bullets at the bank, she dove across the boardwalk into the General Store and low crawled out of the doorway where she wouldn't be visible.

 
“Is there anything I can do, Sheriff?”  Mrs. Wells asked from behind the counter where she was crouching.

 
“Yeah,” Robin said as she moved more towards the back of the store where she was sure she would be out of the robber's view and surveyed the walls where she had seen the bow and quiver of arrows a few days before when she was in the store.  “I need a rag soaked in kerosene and some flexible wire,” she said, locating what she was looking for and rushing over to grab it off of the wall.

 
The store owner's wife got what Robin had requested and held the kerosene soaked rag out to her from the safety provided by a 5' high stack of large bags of seed grain.

 
“Thanks, Mirna,” Robin said as she held out the tip of one of the arrows from the quiver she had removed from its display spot on the back wall and said, “hold this, please.”  When the arrow was in Mirna's hand, Robin wrapped the rag around the end of the arrow and used the flexible wire, Mirna had found to tightly secure the rag.  “Thanks,” Robin said with a small smile of gratitude.  “Now get into the back room and stay there....no matter what you hear or think you hear,” she instructed.  She crouched down and carried the bow and the arrow back out to her spot behind the water trough.  “Something tells me that you are probably a better shot with one of these than I am,” Robin said to MacLeod who looked at her and lifted an eyebrow, curiously.

 
Duncan took the bow and arrow from Robin and tested the spring of the bow.  “It's been a while,” he said, skeptically.  “But I'll give it a try.  What's the target?”

 
“See the gabled window at the peak of the roof?”  Robin said and when MacLeod nodded she continued.  “It looks like an upstairs window but the bank is only one story.  It's more just for decoration than anything.  If you can put the arrow through that window it should travel far enough toward the back of the bank and....with any luck....land somewhere behind the counter where there is more paper to catch fire.”  Then she added, “or at the very least it will get caught in the rafters and catch them on fire.”  She was thankful that Payne had recently upgraded the large safe where everyone's money was kept to one that was fireproof.  She leaned over MacLeod and said to Wells and Evans, “give us some cover fire.”  Then she lay back with the back of her shoulders against the trough.  “Give me your pistol, MacLeod,” she said, laying her rifle down on the ground between her and MacLeod.  When Duncan handed his Colt revolver to her, Robin checked the cylinder, which was full.  She unholstered her own pistol and spun the full cylinder for luck.  She took off her hat and laid it on the ground...took a deep breath and let it out slowly as she turned over and rolled over to a three large barrels that had been stacked at the bottom of the boardwalk steps and squatted behind them.  Shots rang out from the bank....a few bullets digging into the ground nearby.

 
“I'm going to give you one more chance,” Robin called out to the robber in the bank.  “Toss your weapons out the door and come out with your hands up and let's end this peacefully.”

 
“Go **** yourself!” the man in the bank yelled back and fired a couple of rounds of his shotgun for effect.

 
“Now that was just plain rude,” Robin said, more to herself than anyone else.  She looked over at the store owner and the town Mayor.  “Now!” Robin said to  Wells and Evans and both men raised up and began firing, rapidly, at the bank. She looked at Duncan and mouthed, “ready?”

 
MacLeod nodded as he struck a match on the trough and touched it to the rag at the end of the arrow.  He positioned the arrow in the bow and raised up to his knees...taking aim at the gabled window Robin had indicated.

 
Robin didn't wait to see if the rag caught fire.  She leaped to her feet, holding both pistols out in front of her and she ran a few steps toward the center of the street, firing one shot after another from both guns.  When she was halfway across the street.....and completely exposed...she made a diving leap towards a buggy someone had abandoned in the street when the ruckus started...twisting sideways so that her body was facing the front of the bank while she continued to fire both revolvers.  She landed on the ground behind the buggy just as she fired the last bullet in each of the revolvers and she did a modified tuck and roll which put her at the back wheel of the buggy just as the flaming arrow broke through the gabled window of the bank.

 
The robber was firing blindly in the direction of Wells and Evans and then in Robin's direction but it was more than one man could handle and his accuracy suffered drastically. A stray bullet shattered the Barber Shop window.  Another one ricocheted off the chimney of the Store's fireplace and actually rang the bell that hung outside of the town's small Firehouse.  Another one made a hole in the front side of the watering trough she and MacLeod had hid behind and its contents began to pour through the hole, creating a mud puddle in front of it.  Then the robber could be heard yelling as the curtains over the gabled window began to burn and smoke began to pour out of the attic vents, the gabled window and the large window at the front of the bank.  “You **** ****!” the robber yelled from somewhere inside the bank.

 
“Yep.  That would be me,” Robin declared, proudly and grinned victoriously back at the men who had helped her as she quickly reloaded her revolver.

 
The loud report of the robber's large gauge shotgun echoed down the street and a bullet caught the top of Wells' Bowlerhat, sending it flying off of his head and it landed on the boardwalk behind him.  As he ducked down behind the trough, again, the Mayor could be heard asking him if he was alright.  The robber could be heard coughing from inside the bank and a few minutes later the door of the bank opened and he came stumbling out onto the boardwalk in front of the bank.

 
“Throw your weapon off to the side and put your hands over your head,” Robin demanded as she cautiously moved from behind the buggy.

 
Wells, Evans and MacLeod, got to their feet...aiming their rifles at the bank robber.

 
The man was practically doubled over in the throws of a violent coughing spell but he tossed his shotgun to the side and raised his hands in the air as he was told.

 
Robin came out from behind the buggy and moved towards the robber...holding her gun out in front of her and aimed at the man's chest.  “Now lay down on your stomach and stretch your arms out to your sides as if you're flying,” Robin said in a most commanding voice.  When the man didn't respond right away, she pulled the hammer back of her revolver and yelled, more forcefully, “Do it now!”

 
The robber, reluctantly, did as he was told...mumbling obscenities directed at Robin.

 
Harry came out of the door of the bank, carrying Mr. Payne over his shoulder just as the four on duty firemen began dragging the fire wagon over to the bank now that it was safe.  One by one the towns people began to emerge from the buildings that they had taken cover in and the men began to gather at the fire wagon to help put the blaze out before the bank was totally demolished.

 
Robin walked over to the robber and looked back at MacLeod, Wells and Evans and asked, “anyone got any rope?”

 
Mirna appeared at the door of the store and called out to MacLeod, who was already on his way to join Robin,  “Here!”  and she tossed a small coil of rope.

 
MacLeod caught the rope and took a few long strides over to where Robin stood over the robber...one foot firmly planted at the back of the man's neck...forcing his face into the dirt.  He straddled the robber and tied his hands behind his back and checked to make sure the binding was secure, then he grabbed the section of rope between the man's hands and lifted the man to his feet.

 
“You keep this up, and I may have to put you on the payroll, MacLeod,” Robin said, jokingly while she watched MacLeod secure the robber's hands.  “A position seems to have just opened up,” she added with a smirk.

 
“Depends on the pay and what the benefits are,” MacLeod joked back.

 
Robin grabbed the man's upper arm with one hand while keeping her revolver trained on her prisoner.  “Let's go, loser,” she ordered, simply, and pulled him toward the Sheriff's Office/Jail.  The she said over her shoulder, “Oh...by the way, MacLeod.....welcome to the peaceful town of Ford's Prairie,” and she chuckled, sarcastically.