" The Further Adventures Of The Sideways Gang"

Following the noises we heard there came a scram of terror. Once again we gazed into the harrowing chasm. I have never before or since had sucn a feeling of helplessness, only made worse by the gaping distance we had to bridge; (pun intended), but we all gave our best efforts to rescue our friend and our enemy. After all Dino had never really did us wrong and was only along for the ride as far as we were concerned. Speeding down the hastily tied ropes we arrived only to see the both of them fight themselves over the edge of the canyon. We all stood there as stunned as one can be when a tragedy occurs and any attempt at rescue is useless. I was hit particularly hard hit at Chuck aka don't give a fuck Chuck's sudden demise. I still love him like a brother and can picture his drunken yet still attractive face. It has always been easy for him to attract women and even if he wasn't easy to look at his personality was so pleasant and outgoing that all who met him loved him just for his being Chuck.

We decided on having the funeral at Upper St. Mary's Lake which was a place we all loved and fished in. I jumped on my horse 'Randy' named for his behavior and his sometimes bad attitude. It may sound strange to love an animal like Randy but he had two things counted in his favor. I should say three things for Randy is a beautiful animal unlike his name sake who was butt ugly both in attitude and bearing. My Randy was blessed with deep patches of black and chestnut red outlined perfectly with a deep white color. Gracie the Gun was already mounted on her palomino which she had gotten from a Nez' Perce brave who found her most attractive and was sadly disappointed when The Judge rode into their village three days later.

We rode into St. Mary's and got rooms at Hugh Blacks saloon and eatery. After each downing a most enjoyable steak cooked by Johnny who later opened his own restaurant in the little town of Browning, Montana the new Blackfoot reservation but that is another story. Having no remains to bury we held a small service on the shores of Lower St. Mary's Lake and I read of The Sermon on the Mount with the final eight verses of John. Finishing our sad journey of some fifty eight miles with the service we all once again returned to Black's place and ordered dinner for which none of us had an appetite we retired then to the bar and drank ourselves silly. Early the next windy hot morning we rode towards Canada. Hoping for something to eat and a drink we took a side trip to the Babb Bar. Now the Babb Bar is overlooked by Chief Mountain and sat on as desolate piece of prairie one could imagine. It also has the distinction of being frequented by the most reckless and tough crowd one could imagine, thus making it's reputation as the toughest saloon in the country totally justified. Our rough appearance along with the appearance of our group left little doubt as to the mood we were all in. Having satisfied our thirst if not our hunger Judge Jury pointed out to me that were only ten miles or so from Duck Lake which is always teeming with trout, bass, and greyling.

We made our camp on the northern shore which consisted of some of the most difficult and windswept land anywhere. No one was going to sneak up on us where we were.

more later