The Last Patrol

[Elegant Ella]

"Yes, it can protect against some attacks," replied Ella. "It's almost no help against a bullet, but steel bones can deflect a slashing blade. Whalebone works, as long as the bones are set close enough together. The layers of heavy silk also help, even against a piercing attack with a blade held vertically. There were ancient warriors who wore armor made of quilted silk. Our friend Bill has made coats with tempered steel wire woven into a protective layer. Those will stop shotgun pellets or a light bullet at moderate range, but they are stiff and heavy, and very uncomfortable to wear. Our corsets only protect the torso, but we're used to wearing them."

She turned her attention to Blackbeard, "I'll try another day, when I'm dressed for it. Skirts, even divided skirts, would interfere with the rope too much. Scarlet, I got a dinner invitation to the officers mess with the real doctor from the infirmary, who is terribly curious about women deputy marshals. The invitation includes you and Fritz. I would have included Tensleep, but I think he's taking his mule back and visiting his friends. Neither of us brought clothes really suitable to the officers mess, but they can take us as they see us."

[Scarlet Angel]

"Meybe you can wear Fritz's vest, come by our camp too." Black beard said softly as a mischievous smile played on his lips.

"Ya are funny aren't ya." Scarlet replied then turned her attention to Ella. "Fritz introduced me to some of the officer's. The doctor will be seeing us on the field so I hope he can accept us like we are in the officer's mess." Scarlet said looking down at her muddy boots and wet trousers. There was no blood today but she was dirty. "I guess a little soap and water and a change of clothes wouldn't hurt though."

"Did you see Smith and the others when you came down here?" Black beard asked.

"We passed 'em headed back to the fort." Bo replied.

"Headed back to the fort or looking for a good place to lay an ambush?" Teddy remarked.

"You think they'd try anything? There were only three of them."

"Three of us have taken on odds. It's not about the numbers it's the opportunity they would be looking for. Don't give it to them. In fact I think we should meet them." Scarlet said with a smile as she mounted up. "Know thy enemy."

[Elegant Ella]

"If I get the answer I expect from Patches tomorrow, Smith and his buddies will cease to be our problem," commented Ella. "We will arrest them, and leave them in the stockade for lawmen from somewhere else to come fetch. People from Omaha will be here on Wednesday to collect Harper and Johnson. Patches said they were real happy to hear those two were locked up and waiting for them.  If Smith is wanted in Nebraska, I'm sure they will be happy to take him away as well. Diaz will be staying a little longer, until people arrive from Houston, unless Patches finds he is wanted somewhere closer to here."

[Scarlet Angel]

Cyrus shook his head with a smile as he saw the riders coming back. The women really did give his men something to do besides fight amongst each other. They had a long way to go before they'd be anything like the men Dick pulled together but even brothers fought when they were cooped up together to long. Ella and Scarlet seemed to give them something to do that had a purpose. Maybe it was having somebody different in the group that had different points of view they would share with a take it or leave it attitude. He had yet to see one of the girls run off in tears from some comment or show offensive to inappropriate comments. If Scarlet had spent time in saloons and whore houses no doubt there was much that could be said to offend her. Ella having seen what she had while working with the doctors on the battlefield; it would take a lot to make her turn her head away from something. He'd told Ella before it was not the presence of her and Scarlet that made the men fight and act like fools, his men at least. Watching them now there was no doubt he was right.

Cyrus had to give Ella credit for bringing Chris around. The man had changed in her presence for the better. Cyrus knew Chris was capable but hadn't been sure how to go about bringing it out of him. Chris was getting along well with his own crew now. Then there was Black beard and Frank. They worked together but they were two entirely different personalities. Cyrus never thought he'd see Frank ride out to be part of Black beards games. But here he came, wet from waist to toe laughing about it. In fact the men seemed to laugh a lot more now, it was going to be hard to watch those ladies ride out when the day came.

"Looks like you had a good day." Cyrus said as the group rode by.

"I'm gonna stick with you Cyrus. Bein' a pirate is too hard on this old body." Teddy chuckled.

"But what a ride!" Frank said with a grin.

"Looks like you and Scarlet went over board." Cyrus said looking at the damp clothes and mud.

"Scarlet is tricky." Frank grinned.

"Most women are." Black beard laughed.

"Thought you knew that." Teddy remarked.

"Shouldn'ta asked me about my undergarments." Scarlet laughed kicking Dancer up and heading for the barn leaving Cyrus standing there with a questionable look on his face.

"I sure hope they don't get in trouble with the Captain sayin' such things to his wife." Cyrus commented to Bo who had dismounted.

Bo laughed. "Fritz liked the spirited one. I think he hung around long enough to know what he was getting into. Tried to warn him. The men at home are just as bad."

"Then there's you." Cyrus said looking pointedly at Bo.

"Yes Sir. Then there is me. Fritz can be jealous at times, as all of who have someone we love, but he knows where her heart is; and that my friend is what gives him peace of mind."

[Scarlet Angel]

"Tell me about the doctor we are to meet." Scarlet said to Ella as she hurried to take care of Dancer and Lucky before she cleaned up.

[Elegant Ella]

"Major William Martin must have been 40 years old by the time I got to the hospital tents. He was a widower when he joined - I heard that his wife had died in childbirth. He had left an established practice in Maine to join the Union Medical Corps as a full surgeon. I was a nuisance to him, asking too many questions that let him know I disagreed with his instructions on wound care. It didn't help that Dr. Alan supported my viewpoint, just confirmed that he was a whipper-snapper who was too full of book-learning to know any real medicine. He and I did reach a truce - I stopped questioning his instructions and he stopped trying to force me to follow them exactly," replied Ella. "I am surprised that he stayed with the Army after the War was over. But maybe with his wife dead, he didn't want to go back to Maine."

[Scarlet Angel]

Bo whistled softly as he passed Ella and Scarlet being escorted to the officers mess by Fritz.

"You ladies will no doubt get the officer's attention." He said with a wink.

Scarlet stepped over to Bo, cupped her hands over his ear and whispered something only he could hear. Bo doubled over in laughter as Scarlet stepped back and flashed him a most wicked grin, her eyes danced with mischief.

He stopped laughing long enough to say. "Fritz, may the Good Lord look out for your soul because you have dropped your lasso around the devil herself." 

Scarlet put her finger to her lips "shhh" she said, her eyes still dancing.

Bo began to laugh again.

Scarlet took Fritz's arm again and they continued towards the officers mess.

"It will be interesting to hear Major Martin's oppinions now. Considering what you said about him earlier." She remarked.

[Elegant Ella]

"Based on what he said in the infirmary when I looked in at Diaz, he has kept up with recent advances in medical science, and found out that Dr. Alan and I were a bit ahead of the field," replied Ella. "That reminds me, do you remember Spanish Ben, who cut up a couple women in Galveston and in Houston?"

Scarlet and Fritz both nodded.

"He's currently in the infirmary under the name of Reuben Diaz. He doesn't need to stay there as long as he is given a soft diet, so we can arrest him tomorrow and add him to the collection in the stockade. I'm keeping Patches busy, wiring around to find lawmen willing to come up here and claim these guys. She already has people coming from Omaha for Harper and Johnson. She might have information on a couple more of Dick's gang by tomorrow. I didn't recognize any of the others, but that could just be because they are robbers, and I also paid most attention to the ones who prey on women."

[Scarlet Angel]

"I have tired to avoid Dick's camp, but a couple of them look familiar. I've been searching my mind going back before becoming a deputy. The one they are calling a drunk that rode today with Smith today. I didn't get a real close look at him but there's something there. Something I'm missing. I keep picturing him clean shaven, a man proud of who he is." Scarlet looked off into the distance as if she was trying to see into the past. "Maybe if I got a closer look at him or he just reminds me of someone." Her eyes narrowed for a split second.

"What is it?" Ella asked knowing Scarlet had just thought of something.

"Something is telling me to watch out for him." She shook her head. "It's going to haunt me until I remember it."

"Maybe he has been to the Ace?" Ella offered.

"Maybe, I just keep seeing a clean cut man, with eyes that sized up others easily, brown with flecks of green." Scarlet shook the chill that danced down her spine. The face was coming clearer, no name, just the feeling to avoid him.

"Perhaps when Patches replies it will help jog your memory." Ella replied.

"If it doesn't, like I said we just might have to go introduce ourselves."

[Scarlet Angel]

Archie sat on his bunk, this time enjoying the swallow of the warm liquid out of the flask. Life was about to get more interesting. He'd not recognized her until today, seeing her on the big bay horse. What was she doing here? A smile came to his lips, she looked good though. A man never expected something that looked so sweet could be so deadly.

Watching her today told him she was still a fighter. If Smith wanted to take her on she would go down fighting, till one of them drew a final breath. He knew a lot of folk that had reputations, good and bad. What he knew of the woman the outlaws called Scarlet Angel was based on things he'd seen with his own eyes. She never whored that he knew of, but she knew how to make a man believe he was going to get lucky with one just before she gutted him. He'd seen one of the heads of the outlaws folks talked about too. The woman he remembered had walked a very thin line as far as the law had been concerned, you never knew which side she was going to be on when you passed her on the street.  Archie prayed she didn't remember him. It wouldn't be good for him here and now. Maybe if he knew why she was here it would ease his mind. He could ask around, but that might get him into trouble he didn't want.

It was easier to find out about the other woman, Ella Coatsworth. Since she had put Drew behind bars she was the talk if Dick's camp. They said she was some kind of medic working for the Marshal out of El Paso. He didn't recognize the Marshal that was here. Maybe Scarlet was working with the law this time, which may cost him his life if she recognized him.

[Elegant Ella]

Major Martin was waiting for them at the door. He offered his arm to Ella to escort her into the dining room, and led his guests to the table for four in the center of the room.  It seemed they were slated to be the evening entertainment.

All three of the deputies would have been happier with a table in the corner where they could have walls at their backs, but guests shouldn't complain unnecessarily. They took their places, Ella to the Major's right, Scarlet to his left and Fritz opposite him.  Ella was wearing the same jacket and skirt she had worn all day, but she had changed to a waist with a bit of ruffle at the neck. 

Everyone stayed standing behind their chairs until a blessing had been said.  Then servers started bringing out a first course of french onion soup. The room was soon quiet except for eating noises. The soup was very good, and followed by roast beef with Yorkshire pudding and boiled carrots. Ella mentally compared the fare to what the enlisted men got, but reminded herself that during the War, officers had to pay for their meals, while the Army provided meals to the enlisted men. 

Ella passed on the dessert of dried apricot pie, sure that the pie crust was based on lard. Major Martin said, "At the beginning of the War, I thought it would be an opportunity to evaluate different protocols for wound care. But the sheer numbers of patients made that impossible. We were so short of staff at the beginning of the War! I could barely keep track of the patients I was responsible for, and had no hope of tracking any others. Once there was enough staffing, I did try again to run my evaluation. Then I ran into you!"

Ella responded, "Is that why you wanted me to tend wounds in those strange ways? All I knew was that you didn't like me questioning your instructions." 

"Yes. I had observed that specific nurses seemed to make more difference than the doctors. Patients under the care of you or your aunt survived more often than less seriously wounded patients under the care of walking wounded. It seemed that any patient in the care of you or your aunt who survived the first three days after injury survived. So I wanted to give all the theories the fairest test possible by having the best nurses apply them."

"I'm sorry I interfered with your research, but the first few techniques you wanted me to use had been tried and rejected by my grandmother. I wasn't willing to endanger patients by using those."

"Maybe I should have explained myself and been willing to listen to a snippity girl-child. It was a surprise to me that those in power sent you to the Point Lookout prison camp." 

"The prisoners needed medical care, too. There were some non-medical issues involved. I was growing up, and one of the doctors tried wooing me. I wasn't interested, but he persisted. The authorities responded to my complaints by telling me to go home if I couldn't stop being a flirt. My aunt and uncle were in a different hospital and Dr. Alan had been sent to Point Lookout. So I requested a transfer there."

"Interesting. But what I was more curious to hear about is how did you women come to be deputy marshals?"

"Scarlet should answer that, since she was the first female deputy marshal I know of."

[Scarlet Angel]

Major Martin looked curiously at Scarlet.

"I was a rather successful bounty hunter." Scarlet began wondering which parts to gloss over. "El Paso was where I took most of the outlaws back to. Marshal Hart got to see my work first hand and often. I preferred to go after the men wanted dead or alive. I guess I impressed him. He had offered me the job more than once."

"Why after turning it down did you finally accept?" Major Martin asked.

Scarlet leaned against the back of the chair. "Mary Ann Mallard."  She hadn't thought of that for some time. Ella had delivered two children for her since arriving in El Paso.

Ella raised an eyebrow. "Mary Ann, wife of Steven Mallard?" She asked leaning forward.

"Yes, Mary Ann was violated and beaten. Her husband wanted to make sure the men were brought back to justice and asked me to ride with the Marshal."

[Elegant Ella]

Houston, Texas

Deputy Marshal Ambrose Hayes reported to Marshal Luther Thompson's office as ordered.

"Have a seat, Brose. We might have a problem with the Perry White case. I got a wire from the El Paso office just now asking for current information on Perry White aka Perry Smith."

"Any idea why? I thought Archie was on the case."

"No idea. I had a wire from them earlier today reporting that Reuben Diaz was in custody at Fort Fetterman and asking us to send someone to collect him."

"Spanish Ben in custody is good news. But I thought all White's old wanted posters had mouldered away by now. Can't you just reply that White's in prison or dead?"

"Not with the El Paso office. They have a reputation for curiosity and tenacity, and a history that makes them unwilling to believe any outlaw is dead or imprisoned until they collect three independent reports or see it for themselves. By the way, the wire I got from them yesterday said that the last survivor of Firehouse Charlie's gang is Jimmy Washington who is also in custody at Fort Fetterman and asked if we wanted to collect him."

"Busy people! But them wiring around looking for information on White could blow our investigation to smithereens! Five years work lost if one word reaches the wrong ears!"

"That's why I replied to the wire that they should do nothing until the additional information I am sending them arrives."

"What are you sending them?"

"You. You are authorized to use your own discretion to answer any questions they have. It might be helpful that you are known as a ladies man, since half of the deputies there are women."

"Oh, it's THAT office. I have been curious to meet that Petticoat Posse."

[Elegant Ella]

"Steven Mallard must be an unusual man," commented Ella. "I've seen too many rape victims blamed by their husbands and rejected, sometimes divorced and sometimes driven to suicide. But Mary Ann and Steven seem to be well satisfied with each other."

[Scarlet Angel]

"The Steven Mallard you know is a good man. A much better person than he was when she married him." replied Scarlet. "When they came to town that day someone stood up to Mr. Mallard told him he was a bully and a few other choice things.  Maybe he realized Mary Ann was a good person. Not just an object. When we brought back Mary Ann's attackers there was talk in the saloons, bets on if Mr. Mallard would send Mary Ann away, or send her to work in the Pink Palace."

"Pink Palace the cheapest establishment in town," Ella said to Major Martin.

"Mary Ann is the type of person that would go cold and hungry to feed others before herself, spent a lot of time doing good deeds. She could have had a job any place if she'd needed it. But folks figured it would be the Pink Palace Steven would send her to because after what happened those would be the only kind of men he would think she would be fit for.  I figured he was waiting to see just how hard she fought. I remember the look on his face when he came to see the men. She put up some fight. One of the saddle tramps lost his eye over it; others looked like they had stuck their heads and arms into a sack o' wild cats. I understand he spoke to Marshal Hart and my father a few times.  Mr. Mallard started treating Mary Ann with more kindness after that. Maybe he stopped thinking of her as a possession and more of a partner."

[Elegant Ella]

"I'm suspecting that the someone who stood up to Mr. Mallard to tell him a few choice things is sitting at this table," commented Ella drily. "Did you also need to give him a taste of being helpless against someone stronger than him?"

[1stSgt Fritz King]

Fritz hadn't said much as Scarlet and Ella talked.  He was sure the officers were enchanted in the presence of these ladies.  They were attractive, yes, but consummate professionals as well.  Fritz smiled, knowing that he had the honor of working with them, and the privilege of being married to Scarlet.

He then looked at the other men around the table.  These were, for the most part, his peers...men who, like himself, had grown gray in war.  "If it were only as simple as this," Fritz mused.  But he knew it wasn't simple.  There was politics involved.  He hated politics, and much preferred the life of a soldier on campaign.  He also knew that this war, like all the other wars would end.  Those that survived would attempt to survive the drawdown of the military which had served and protected their nation so well.

Of those seated around him, there were scant few that he trusted.  He looked to Major Schurmann.  Bill was starting to look old and tired.  Years in the saddle had taken their toll.  He didn't know General Crook well.  He seemed like a kindred spirit; a man who would shoot straight and tell the truth.

"Hey...are you alright?"

Scarlet looked in his eyes.  She was holding his hand.

"Yeah," Fritz replied, patting her hand.  "I'm fine."

"You sure?  You look like you're a thousand miles away."

"Just thinking about the fight...it's coming soon.  I can feel it."
                 

[Elegant Ella]

"I started having doubts about being a deputy while we were working in Tucson, so when we came to El Paso with Scarlet to celebrate New Year's, I brought everything with me so that I had the option of finding other work instead of returning," said Ella.

"What caused your doubts?" asked Major Martin.

"The Marshal there expected me to be as hard as any of the men working for him if I wasn't decorative like Fannie and Allie. Scarlet and Patches both had experience of working in a man's job, but I did not. He just did not respect me as a healer," Ella took a sip of wine, then continued, "I seriously started thinking about leaving his employ when I slapped his face when he came back after faking his own death. A couple members of the posse were in on the plan. I objected to him putting everyone through needless grief, because he didn't think anyone else in the posse needed to know ahead of time. Some of the posse thought I was unreasonable. Fritz and Patches agreed with me, though."

[Scarlet Angel]

Scarlet smiled understandingly at Fritz as she squeezed his hand again.

She understood his feelings because she had the same ones. Grey Eagle had told her Fritz possessed the senses of a warrior when he had first met Fritz. He had also said Ella possessed the sense of where her powers of healing would be needed.  In the time she'd known Grey Eagle his statements had held true. He had told her of the visions of the elders before she left El Paso, those combined with the feeling of the oncoming fight had her worried.

She hadn't missed Ella's comment about Steven Mallard, but if it was a road if Ella wanted to explore it was best done between the two of them. Scarlet didn't like airing other folk's dirty laundry.

Major Martin's question brought her attention back to the conversation. "Were you having doubts about being a deputy, like Mrs. Coatsworth?"

"Riding with Marshal Ross and his deputies has been the first time I have not had doubts about being a deputy put near every morning I wake up."

The honest answer seemed to surprise Major Martin. "Why?"

"He's straight with us. Good or bad if he doesn't approve he tells you why and listens to your reasons. Ella and I are here because we are good at what we do and he trusts that, women or not. We all have different views at times but we work it out."

[Elegant Ella]

"The first time we worked with Marshal Ross, chasing down robbers who had murdered Marshal Hart, he needed someone to take the horses out of the way while the rest of the posse waited in ambush. He assigned me," said Ella. "The Marshal in Tucson would have sent Patches and insisted that I be part of the ambush, more to test our obedience than because it would have made any sense. Patches and Scarlet are both better with horses than I am, but not by much. They are both much better shots. I hit my targets, but I'm slower."