Apparently Mr. Allen can’t take a hint…

Mark, really?  You always say that??  Is that only when YOU don’t have to do the cooking? Finish with some vague reference to a dead catfish getting eviscerated by a bald eagle, and NOW we are out.

She suffers from what is known as RBF… Resting-Bitch-Face.  Even as Mark flashes his Pepsodent Smile in the third panel, I bet she’s still glowering at him…

But seriously?! Ahn-Chee-LA-Thas?  Because her name ees Sarr-REE-Ta?  And Mark that’s a super lame joke… When have Prairie Dogs ever been on the menu?  Unless you are a Black-footed Ferret, which is what drew you out to South Dakota in the first place!  OK, I think we are done here… can we leave now?

By know it’s not even news to say that images are recycled… Heck, I’d probably do that too if I were in charge of a daily…  and I won’t waste my time and energy looking for exact matches, but trust me kids, they are out there…

So with Mark heading back to Lost Forest early, Cherry will have to send her boyfriend (I’m sure she has one, right?) packing… OK maybe not… but still, I can do without all the hugging, nose-touching and other forms of honey-cafuddling that are sure to ensue upon his return.  Remember, gang, he’s been gone a day…  and the more likely response would be, “Hey, what are you doing home?  Would it have killed you to call me, especially after the FBI called here to report that you once again got your sorry ass in a bind?”

Well, at least the Eagle came to its senses and found a dead (cat)fish to pick off the lake surface to feed the hungry eaglets…  Much as we want to believe otherwise, Bald Eagles are for the most part scavengers, not the fearsome and aggressive hunters we have in mind…  They recycle Nature’s offerings and even Man’s cast-offs…

… as we say in Minne-soota.  Considering that only a day (or two at most) has transpired, I am sure that Mark’s return flight isn’t for a few days, at least!!  Let’s get after them dogs!!

Look at the faces on Jimmy and Sarita.  They look positively, I don’t know… nonplussed.  As if bank-robbing kidnappers make their way through their home on a regular basis…  Like this is no big deal.

So, as Sheriff Stober puts another notch on his gun belt, he will put this into his “Why I Deserve to be ‘Lawman of the Year’ and get Re-elected” file. Heck… I’d vote for him.  But what about the FBI?  The guy with the putting-green hair style?  Was their role in all this only to describe Sheriff Stober and the fact that he carries a tomahawk?  So that said tomahawk could come into play, breaking Baldy’s hand and turning the tables?  That’s a lot of government salary and taxpayer money to basically ignore a kidnapping and bank robbing situation.  Or is it the fact that it was still a local matter, the misanthropic highway-people hadn’t crossed a state line yet?

So do we get back to Dirty and the Diamonds now?  I am waiting to see where this goes before I open a new Category… I have been head-faked before…

Unlike Mark Trail of yore, we are only treated to wildlife art every now and then… When Dodd and Elrod held the tiller, it was worked into damn near every installment.  So as we are treated, below, to a Bald Eagle fanning on an attempt to secure dinner for his brood, we are reminded of what a wimp Mark has turned into…

“Gosh, yes, Sheriff, whatever would we have done if you hadn’t come along??”  Sounds like something Rusty would say, not Mark.  Mark used to be able to take care of himself.  But no longer, apparently.

Ah yes, the horses…  As I recall, Sheriff Stober commandeered most if not all of the herd in pursuit of the Bank Robbers, who will remain nameless, it would seem.  I also recall that Mark, Lone Elk, Baldy and Blondie each had a mount as well…  Let’s hope they were included with the “other horses” referenced…

And is it just “Sarita?”  Not Sarita Ryan?  Aren’t they married?  Or did Jimmy just find her somewhere roaming the Badlands in search of a life mate?  When will she realize that she is Cherry’s twin sister, separated at birth, who has an equal right to the estate of “Doc” Davis, which includes millions of acres of protected land in the Northern Georgia Mountains, otherwise known as “Lost Forest?”

Speaking of Lost Forest, we will probably be treated to a reunion of sorts with the Trail clan, after Mark and Lone Elk get back to checking out the Black-footed Ferret population on the Res…

Really?  Can this be it?

A cut here and paste there, a bad one-liner, and voila!  The story wraps up!

I guess it takes a nature writer to know when too leave well enough alone… despite whatever “arrangement” one might have with Nature…

And are we to believe that this all just goes to plan?  That the Trio of Terribles will just comply now that they have been “caught?”  OK, Whatever…

Seriously.  There is so much wrong with today’s installment I barely know where to begin…

By “these three” one would assume by looking at the picture that Johnny is among them, right?  Yea, and what about that Grizzly? (Yes Mark, there was an entire story line that didn’t involve you…) Does he only object to people walking toward (what’s left of) the Ghost Town and lets people leaving get a pass?  Or does Sheriff Stober have a fresh stash of Nut Goodies in his other pocket?  And what about the trip back to Jimmy and Sarita’s?  The one that takes days  into weeks to accomplish, even on Horseback, which they don’t have at this point?  And do you really expect these desperados to remain compliant, even without being shackled?  And what about the FBI who is still safely sheltering in place during all the tornado activity?  Finally, what happened to the bedroll full of cash from the bank?  Blown from there to Kingdom Come I would imagine…

I have to hand it to Lone Elk…  It’s as if he’s seen this all before… Or he’s just entirely bored with the story line.  If that’s the case, I totally commiserate…  I have a choice as to whether I come back… He’s stuck in the middle of it!

But I thought they wanted to get to the bank… or at least the tunnels below it… And I figured that they’d be inside already lifting up the trap door!  Saying hello to Samson!

Yak, yak, yak…  But look at Mrk’s hair in the second frame!  Not that’s a twister!! One that can dishevel the ‘do!  But now I am confused- again- is that the trap door slamming shut?  Is Mark on the other side of it??  Or did the entire structure come down on top of him??  I’m not really worried, since no one dies in the James Allen Trailverse…  and he wouldn’t have a job if he killed off Mark.  Unlike that rotten-to-the-core political operative Johnny Walker, who went over a cliff with a wounded elk…  Ha!  Get it?!  Johnny Lone Elk… Johnny Walker killed by an elk??  I guess there are only so many word combinations to draw from here…