e gun, and then he dropped it, holding it by the muzzle, and saw it go down making bubbles until it was just as big as a watch charm in that clear water, and then it was out of sight. Then he came back off the rock and when he swung up into the saddle he gave old Bess such a clout with the spurs she started to buck like an old rocking horse. He bucked her out along the shore Qf the lake and as soon as she was reasonable they went on back along the trail.
"I know why you did that with the old gun, Bob," Chub said.
"Well, then we don''t have to talk about it," he had said.
They never talked about it and that was the end of Grandfather''s side arms except for the saber. He still had the saber in his trunk with the rest of his things at Missoula.
I wonder what Grandfather would think of this situation, he thought. Grandfather was a hell of a good soldier, everybody said. They said if he had been with Custer that day he never would have let him be sucked in that way. How could he ever not have seen the smoke nor the dust of all those lodges down there in the draw along the Little Big Horn unless there must have been a heavy morning mist But there wasn''t any mist.
I wish Grandfather were here instead of me. Well, maybe we will all be together by tomorrow night. If there should be any such damn fool business as a hereafter, and I''m sure there isn''t, he thought, I would certainly like to talk to him. Because there are a lot of things I would like to know. I have a right to ask him now because I have had to do the same sort of things myself. I don''t think he''d mind my asking now. I had no right to ask before. I understand him not telling me because he didn''t know me. But now I think that we would get along all right. I''d like to be able to talk to him now and get his advice. Hell, if I didn''t get advice I''d just like to talk to him. It''s a shame there is such a jump in time between ones like us.