That’s got to be a tad bit uncomfortable… those straps digging into bare shoulders?  But what do I know?

This conversation is (once again) riveting.  I can barely contain my excitement.  Or my words.

As the Random Shore Bird (RSB) continues to attempt extraction from the tiny shell, we learn more about “cabana boy…”

Always good to have a forger!  Never know when you will need to assume an alternate identity!  Although I am guessing the technology has advanced some since the Donald Pleasence character in the Great Escape…

Have to admit that I have never witnessed criminals sizing each other up and sharing their bona-fides…

So what you are saying, Smith, is that you are a curator of fine nature magazines?  That in your spare hours between killings, you enjoy reading old tales of defeated poaching and winning environmental causes?

Smuggler and a tracker?  Really Chris?  Your one attempt at smuggling got you killed, and remind me what you have tracked in your life??

Enter the cabana boy… Now we have a regular “A-Team!”

OK, I have to say it…  the first panel above breaks a cardinal rule… nipples!  I mean, really?  Put a shirt on, man!

Hire. a. writer.  Please.

And the only way you can think of getting off the island is to be an accessory to murder?  Makes sense.

Who is the third guy in the frame?  Another Arms dealer/lackey?  He certainly appears to be armed…

“WTF?,” says the stranded Conch…

1.  Why does Dirty have the same hair color as Mara?
2. Why is Dirty such an idiot?

Sure!  Why not?  Create witnesses to your intentions wherever you go!  Maybe he considers this a suicide mission- his last act.  He has no need to hide his intentions… I mean, isn’t ALL THE WORLD out to even a score with MARK TRAIL?   Won’t he be greeted with love an affection in jail, as he meets up with all the bad guys that Mark has put away over the years?

And certainly I underestimate the reach of Woods and Wildlife magazine…  why, its readership extends across the globe, including Protectorates of the United Kingdom…  And the reaction is priceless- going from Easter Island monolith to Huh?!  What??!! at the mere mention of THE TRAIL!

…with a flamethrower??

Or a Rocket Launcher?

I seriously wonder if we will be allowed (now) to follow through on this storyline… or if we will be teased (once again) only to be dragged into another slow motion story featuring Mark and a handful of non-repeating bit players…  focused on some “article” that Mark owes the magazine…

I am sure that Mark remains oblivious to this threat, having moved on, thinking (as we all did) that Dirty Dyer died.  Oh won’t Mark be surprised when he sees what will surely look like a ghost to him…

I mean, what are the chances, really? Two Mr. Smiths?  And, judging a book by its cover, one of them looks a lot less likely to have that name…

And where are you going, oh Dirty One?  To exact revenge?  A rocket launcher or a flame thrower would both lay Lost Forest to ashes and ruin…  assuming that is the plan.  Boy, this is getting dark…

I had a feeling we’d run into Chris “Dirty” Dyer.  For those of you who are new or don’t recall, Mr. Dyer has been a recurring character, first introduced in the Rhino-horn-poaching caper…  where he supposedly met his demise, only to be resurrected in a brief encounter in an airport…

Now we find him in the Bahamas, on the lam, so to speak, under the alias “Mr. Smith” testing weapons on wax figures!  My, what fun!

About 10 months ago, in real time, to be exact…

But in Trail time, not that long ago…  Harbour Island, where we saw Dirty Dyer being served a “Gun Club Punch.”  On the house.  I guess crime does pay.

Are you suggesting that you might be in line for an award of some kind?  Seriously?

I will not even dignify that with a response…