The End Of The Red Bandit Gang

“Them Red Bandits are coming! They’re on their way up the mountain!” Yelled Jimmy, one of the younger silver mine workers as he was running up the hillside towards the silver mine.
“Dang! and we are outta powder for our guns too! Whad are we gonna do Tom?” another worker yelled from inside the mine.
“Lets send somebody to get the local sheriff! Jimmy, you’re the fastest runner of us so you go! The sheriff lives just in the town below us so you can make it there and back quick! So go!” Tom, the unofficial leader of the miners, yelled from the entrance of the mine.
“Alrighty im goin!” Jimmy replies running down the hillside through the trees. Just as he disappeared from Tom’s view twelve rough looking gunmen on horses come riding on through the bushes towards the silver mine waving and shooting their rifles into the air. They came trampling up to near the mines entrance and the leader of the group spoke in a loud booming voice:
“Awright! Nobody move! Were here for the silver and any valuables that any of you potguts have on ya, or in that there mine! Now everybody come out or we’ll all start hunting you down and take everything! We only want the valuables, we wont shoot any of ya if you do as we say!”
“Okay we are coming out!” Tom replied as he and all of the other miners came out of the mine one by one with their hands in the air.
“lets round em’ up boys!” the leader of the Red Bandits yelled to his gunmen as they started to gather anything worth anything from the defenseless miners.
Meanwhile, Jimmy was running as fast as he could towards the town, almost rolling and stumbling as much as he was running down the steep hillside. He heard gunshots far behind him ring out through the trees. Being worried about his fellow miners he pumped his legs even more desperately trying to make to the town before it was too late to help them. When he got there he ran right up to the Sheriff who was at the local saloon talking to his horse and his deputy. Huffing for breath he tried to explain the situation about the Red Bandits at the silver mine up the mountain. The Sheriff listened intently to this dirt covered silver miner, trying to make sense of his words. When the Sheriff finally understood what Jimmy had to say he asked how many of the gunmen were currently at the mine. Jimmy just shook his head, unsure of how many of them there were.
The Sheriff immediately sent his deputy into the saloon to get a group of townspeople together and meanwhile got Jimmy a horse and a gun from the stables. When the group was assembled outside the saloon the Sheriff looked them over and told them the situation at the mine, telling them not to shoot any of the miners. And so the meager militia town group began to ride up the mountain towards the mine. When they reached the mine they noticed that the Red Bandits had dug themselves in around the mine and were apparently waiting for them. Fighting immediately ensued between the two groups. Gunshots rattled through the air and the towns people were taking on casualties as they tried to scramble for cover in the trees. The battle was going bad for the towns people, already four were down and several more had been shot at least once. While it seemed that only one of the Red Bandits was downed, and the rest was more than ready to continue the fight. The gunfight continued this way for a few more minutes and then it was over. The Sheriff and the remainder of the towns people slowly began to retreat down the hillside.
The Red Bandits noticed this and was hooting and hollering in triumph, still shooting in the direction of the retreating townsfolk. The leader of the Red Bandits spoke aloud to his group in his booming voice:
“Lets chase em’ down the mountain a’ ways boys, that way, we can come back up here and make our escape with our loot! Lets show em’ how we Red Bandits do business! What say you?!” Wails and hoots erupted from the entire group as they all began to run after the sheriff and the townspeople.
When they left the site, Jimmy, who was hiding in a bush playing dead, popped up out of it and ran into the mine looking for his fellow miners. He found them all bound and gagged up in a dark corner of the mine and he pulled out his knife and loosed them all. He told them what was going on and how they would be returning real soon to collect the loot. Tom came up with an idea an said:
“Hey we could plant a stick of dynamite in the pile of goods that they have gathered! And when they all come to collect, well, they will be collecting all right!” murmurs of agreement came from all of the miners. “Okay lets do it!” So Tom and Jimmy grabbed a stick of dynamite and they dug it into the pile of valuables hidden from view. They then set a detonation cord from the dynamite and into the mine and they sat and waited. Soon the Red Bandit gang came running back as fast as they could to the mine entrance and they were yelling at each other. The Red Bandit leader yelled out:
“Stop it, all of ya! There is an even bigger towns group coming up the mountain even as I speak, so instead of fighting and risking the goods we have, lets just grab it and go, everyone takes a load. We only have a few minutes to get away before they show up so lets get a move on. Now, GET MOVING!” So the entire group began to stuff the valuables into their pockets and onto their horses as fast as they could. Tom and Jimmy along with the other miners watched this and right when they reached the dynamite, Tom pushed the plunger down on the detonation cord. There was a massive explosion from outside the mine and when the dirt and dust cleared the miners looked out the mine entrance and found only a crater where the Red Bandit gang was only a minute before. Before too long the second group of townsfolk and the sheriff reached the site and stood in amazement at what had just happened. The miners came out of the mine and Tom told them what had just happened. The Sheriff shook his head and said:
“More than one way to skin a cat I guess…” and they all began to recover the wounded from the fight and the miners began to search for any remains of the Red Bandit gang.