The Last Patrol

[Elegant Ella]

The evening drew to a close with another hour of Scarlet and Ella telling tales of their exploits as deputies, with some contributions from Fritz.

As people started to leave, Major Martin asked one more question, "How long do you think you are going to continue to be a Deputy?"

Ella sighed and answered, "I'm really going to miss the excitement of it, but I anticipate resigning by the end of the year."

"Why?" he asked.

"Once Dr. Coatsworth joins me in El Paso this autumn, I should be busy helping with his practice. It's hard to imagine him joining the posse, when he is much more comfortable in a carriage than in a saddle, and may never have fired a gun. And the area around El Paso needs him as a doctor."

[Elegant Ella]

Bo was waiting for Ella outside the dining room, with Chris and Samuel. On the way to the scout camp, Bo asked Ella, "Are you ready to go fishing again?"

"I'm ready for fish to eat, but Patches is supposed to send me more information tomorrow at noon, and I've arranged to bring lunch to the telegraph operator. Maybe we can go fishing on Monday? I can tell Patches and John that I'll bring his supper instead."

"He's going to let you use the key even if you don't feed him, you know."

"I know, but he doesn't seem to get much company. He can't go out easily, and I think he's lonely."

Samuel spoke up, "We were going to take supper to your prisoners like you asked, but Perry Smith and his buddies offered, so we let them carry, and went up there with them. The guard was nervous to have so many scouts in there, so only Perry and Chris went into the stockade."

Chris picked up the tale, "Drew asked Perry how long Richard was going to leave them there. Perry got to answer that Richard is now second to Cyrus, who reports to Captain King. Owen wilted a little bit at that. Actually, Owen seemed a little droopy all along, and wasn't very hungry."

"They probably still thought they were only in two whiskey bottles worth of trouble, but the rumors linking me to Fritz are going to make them worry that a complaint of attempted rape will be taken seriously. I haven't told Drew and Owen that they've been arrested by the US Marshals Service yet and that a posse is coming from Omaha to take them to trial. I don't want that word to spread until I've locked up all the wanted men that Patches identifies for me, or Richard's crew will lose some men to desertion," replied Ella.

It was late enough that Ella wanted to head straight for her bedroll. She could go get her sewing in the morning.

[Scarlet Angel]

Blackbeard caught up to Scarlet and Fritz as they left mess hall. As he stepped up behind Scarlet Black beard started to whistle very softly. She felt Fritz stiffen slightly next to her.

Scarlet stopped and looked at Blackbeard. "You sure whistle Dixie well for a Yankee, and I thought Bo was a good keeper of secrets."

Black beard grinned removing his hat. "You may find an entire group of scouts whistling that next time you come through camp. It was just too good of a joke not to share."

By now he noticed Fritz had relaxed but was looking at him questioningly.

"I would not suggest it inside the walls of the fort." Scarlet half smiled.

"Seems there is a rumor going around if your wife cannot get an officer's attention with her charm or beauty she will just whistle Dixie Sir." Blackbeard said to Fritz.

Fritz looked Scarlet up and down. "Some how I highly doubt it is just a rumor."

Scarlet grinned seeing the smile in his eyes.

Blackbeard laughed then said "That fella, Archie, from Dick's camp came round earlier. He was asking questions about you and Ella. They all ask about you ladies, but there was something different about this one."

"Different how?" Scarlet asked.

"He asked the normal questions, what yer doing here, are women really going to ride with us. What qualifies ya. Strange one was did we know anything about your past. It might have been the tone he used and he was hanging around me, Frank and Teddy. I got the impression he was avoiding Bo."

"Is he a threat?" Fritz asked.

"Not right now." Black beard replied.

"Something tells me he has some new friends to keep an eye on him." Scarlet said.

"I thought you ought to know."

"Thank you. Next time he starts askin' tell him to come see me directly."

"I'll let 'im know." Black beard said putting his hat back on. "Have a good evening." He turned and started back towards the scout's camp as he started to sing. "There's a yellow rose in Texas..."

"Tell them not to spook the soldiers on guard."  Scarlet called after him.

[Elegant Ella]

Ella woke up and listened before she opened her eyes. Bo was a quiet sleeper, but he was close enough to hear. Chris and Samuel were noisier, both with distinctive snores. Chris and Samuel hadn't been the other occupants of the four-man tent with Tensleep and Bo on Friday night, but the scouts had done some rearranging during Saturday.

Her bedroll wasn't as comfortable as the bed had been, but she had slept better. She slipped out of the bedroll and pulled on her boots and jacket. She tried to be quiet, but all three of the others woke up. Samuel got up to escort her to the latrine, to the ladies latrine that the scouts had constructed yesterday, with canvas walls for privacy.

Bo met her at the cook fire and took a cup of coffee. "What's your schedule for today, Ella?"

"Breakfast for me, breakfast and bandages for my prisoners, then fetch my sewing to work on until lunch with the telegraph operator. Patches ought to have some answers for me on the list of questions I sent her yesterday."

By the time the pot of oatmeal for the prisoners was cooked, Samuel and Chris were ready to go with her.

Owen was slow to get out of his bunk and feverish. His wound was inflamed. Ella stifled a sense of guilt about the overnight delay before she had cleaned and treated it. Jimmy's wound was healing well, hardly needing to be bandaged anymore.

"We need to take Owen to the infirmary. It's too hard to do what his wound needs in here." She handcuffed him, and Chris took him out of the cell. Ella set out breakfast for the other two on a small table. 

Drew behaved, in the face of Samuel and Chris glaring at him every time he moved. There had to be a way to talk her out of having Captain King keep him locked up, but he hadn't thought of anything to say yet. Jimmy Washington sure hadn't had any useful suggestions. The guard locked the door again and she took Owen to the infirmary.

"Good morning, Major Martin. Thank you for dinner last night. May I use your operating room for my patient this morning?"

"Please, call me Will, Mrs. Coatsworth. Yes, of course you may. May I observe your work?"

"You have to call me Ella if I'm to call you Will," replied Ella with a little flirtation in her voice. "I'm honored by your interest."

Chris and Samuel removed Owen's boots and peeled his trousers off, then put him on the table.

"Tell me what we have here," instructed Will after Ella removed the bandage to expose the wound.

"A small-caliber gunshot wound, bleeding staunched with a bandana, left uncleaned for 8 hours. Cleaned and poulticed 24 hours ago."

"How do you know it was a small-caliber?" Will was frankly curious.

Ella replied, "I shot him with a 38 pistol. Didn't you hear the commotion in the officers quarters building on Friday night?"

"No, I have a room here. I did hear that you shot at two men who tried to break into your room. So this is the one you aimed at first."

Ella was expecting more questions, but Will didn't ask them. Maybe he understood about treating the wounds she inflicted.

Owen was knocked out with chloroform while Ella and Will practiced their craft and shared their knowledge. Samuel and Chris watched with varying degrees of interest.

[Scarlet Angel]

Scarlet quietly dressed although she knew he was listening to her movements in the tent. She was not surprised when she turned and saw him watching. Scarlet purposely took Fritz's vest and slid it on.

His grin widened. "You won't be leaving the tent in that again."

"I kinda figured it was a good way to get attention. I'm not very good at whistling." Her eyes held a mischievous fire as they danced.

"You won't ever have to whistle to get my attention Milady." He said getting up and taking her into his arms.

Scarlet gave him the kind of kiss he would think about all day before she stepped back slid off his vest, handed it to him with a smile that told him she loved him, then replaced it with her own before going out the tent flap.

"Good morning Billy." She said with a friendly smile.

"Good morning Mrs. King." He replied. "May I get you a cup of coffee?"

"Thank you." She said as he poured a cup. "Please it's still Scarlet."

"But you're."

"The same woman that you rode from Fort Laramie with." She said sternly.

"Yes ma'am."

Scarlet shook her head with a smile. "Will you join me?" She said pouring a cup in turn for him.

He looked surprised.

Scarlet looked questioningly in the cup then up at Billy. "Ain't poison is it?"

"Oh no ma'am. It's just that...well you are the Captain's wife."

"So?" Scarlet asked raising an eyebrow.

"Shouldn't be bothering you and I should be back at my post."

"Who says you are bothering me?" Scarlet asked handing him the cup and walking back in front of the tent. "There we are back at your post."

Private Glass looked nervously at the tent.

"What is it?"

"Would the Captain approve?"

"Of a cup of coffee?" She said surprised.

"Yes ma'am."

"Well I'm fully dressed, I'm not whistling, and I've shared coffee with men with a lot more questionable backgrounds they you."

Scarlet heard a soft chuckle from inside the tent.

"If anybody will get into trouble it will be me for distracting you from your duties."

Billy smiled. "No ma'am."

"Besides I wondered if it was quiet last night." She said sipping her coffee.

"It was quiet." Billy said taking a sip from his own cup. His lips slowly spread into a smile.

"Anything or anyone out of place?"

"Blackbeard is very quiet for a big man. I almost missed him, but he came to close to the tent. Seems your friends are wandering around over here now too. Maybe they think we cannot do our job watching out for you."

"I hope you don't truly think that. How many turns has Teddy taken round when you were sleeping, watchin' out for you. Didn't matter who was on watch."

Billy's smile turned to one of understanding. "I see your point. He was by last night too. Lookin' in on both of us I suspect." 

Scarlet smiled in agreement. "Anybody else wandering around?"

"No, Teddy told me to keep a close watch out, but I didn't see anybody else who didn't belong."

"Thank you Billy." Scarlet said finishing her cup.

"You're welcome Scarlet." He replied.

[Elegant Ella]

Will and Ella let Owen wake up from the chloroform once they were ready to bandage his leg again. After it was clear that the chloroform wasn't going to make him sick to his stomach, thanks to his lack of appetite for dinner and no breakfast, Samuel and Chris carried him to one of the beds.

"I need to get the key to Reuben's shackles from Cyrus before moving him into the stockade. Is this afternoon soon enough for you to get rid of him?"

"That will be fine, replied Will.

"I think I have to abandon my prejudices about Army doctors, since the last two I've met don't fit it."

"What were your prejudices? And who was the other counter-example you met?"

"That Army doctors would ignore me or order me around, and that they are too quick to amputate. I met the new doctor at Fort Bliss a couple years ago."

"Greg Griffin, from Yale Medical School?"

"You know him?"

"I taught a class on battlefield medicine at Yale about 5 five years ago. Greg was one of the few students with the imagination to understand the problem of triage." Will stopped and looked at Ella again before asking, "Did you have anything to do with a couple patrols shot to pieces? Greg wrote me about the battlefield medicine and aftercare practiced by the local marshal's medic, but he didn't mention the medic's name, or gender."

Ella blushed, "He did seem a little impressed."

"He was also impressed with the training you gave two of the wounded troopers."

Ella shrugged, "I needed more hands to deal with the load of patients, so the lightly wounded got put to work. The soldiers were more comfortable with being tended by one of their own than by the ranch hands."

"If you are really going to ride out on the campaign, I would like you to attend the planning meetings of the medical crew. Don't abandon your prejudices too soon, but you have had more practical experience than most of the others at the meetings."

"Maybe I can sit quiet and listen, and tell you my suggestions afterwards? They might just reject anything I suggest."

"All right. Their attitudes still need to be adjusted, but there isn't time to do that and plan for the campaign both."

Ella left with Samuel and Chris. There was time to collect her sewing project and take it to the scouts camp, but no time to work on it before taking lunch to the prisoners and eating lunch with the telegraph operator.

Perry and Archie came up while she was collecting the lunches. "Can we help?" asked Archie, who seemed almost sober.

Ella didn't see any reason to prevent them from delivering lunch to Drew and Jimmy, and it would make her day easier. "Sure, you can take lunch to the prisoners in the stockade. Take enough for yourselves as well, and visit over your meal, if you like."

They took food and left. Ella and Bo took lunch for three to the telegraph office. They had finished eating and were just chatting when the key started. John recognized Patches's code, and waved Ella over to the key. Ella acknowledged, and asked for one of the standard marshal codes.

After writing down the information that Patches sent, Ella sent back a litle chatter, about the doctor and dinner with the officers last night and that she expected more invitations.

Ella signed off and turned to see John looking at the pad where he had recorded what he had heard on the key.

"Trying to break our code, are you?" Ella asked, lightly.

John looked a little embarrassed and answered, "It gets boring in here sometimes."

"This one is an easy code, and the message was long enough. There wasn't anything terribly sensitive in the messages, either."

"I'll work on it, and you can tell me tomorrow whether I got it right."

"Tomorrow, I can't come at lunchtime. May I bring supper instead?"

"Any meal you bring will be great."

"Tomorrow evening, then."

Ella and Bo returned to the scout camp. Ella went to talk to Cyrus. "Cyrus, I need to talk to Orville Torres in your hearing, but otherwise privately."

[Scarlet Angel]

Cyrus figured Ella didn't make any requests without good reason. He motioned for one of his men to come over. "Tell Orville Torres to meet me in my tent." He said.

"What will you be discussing with Orville and will I need additional men there to drag him away?" He asked as they walked towards his tent.

[Scarlet Angel]

Drew and Perry exchanged jokes about what they could do with Ella quietly enough the guard could not hear.

"You were awful quiet in there." Perry said to Archie when they left the stockade.

"I think you need to leave those women alone." Archie replied.

"Have another drink, yer no fun when you start to sober up. Sides when did you start going soft on me?"

"Member I told you I recognized the blonde from somewhere?"

Perry snickered thinking of the cat houses they'd visited.

Archie grabbed him by the arm. Perry glared at him.

"Member I tol' you I rode with Apache Jack and he was gutted by a bounty hunter?"

"Yep."

Archie pointed in Scarlet's direction.

"Why didn't she kill you too?" Perry raised an eyebrow. "Jack was good, if she was good enough to take him you wouldn't have been much of a challenge."

"I ain't worth much."

"Well now let's go see if she thinks ya might be now." Perry said heading her direction.

"Damn." Archie cursed under his breath. He had hoped by telling Perry she was not an easy target he would give up on trying anything with Scarlet or Ella, even avoid them because they were connected with the law. Scarlet was a good actress and a better tracker. He hoped if she remembered him this wouldn't get him killed.

Scarlet saw them coming towards her, she also noticed Frank and Black beard were hot on their trail so she wasn't as concerned as she might have been.

"You must like horses more than you like men." Perry said watching her brush the buckskin horse that belonged to Captain King.

"What do you want?" She said looking over Strider's back. Archie was close enough now she was sure it was the man she had crossed paths with once or twice. He looked like hell warmed over compared to the man she remembered. "What was he doing here?" She wondered.

"My friend here says you know him." Perry said.
This time Scarlet locked gazes with Archie. She wasn't sure of the game. "So? I know a lot of people."

Perry could tell she was unimpressed with their presence. "He says you are the one killed Apache Jack."

Scarlet eyed Perry this time. "So? I've killed a lot of people."

Perry started to open his mouth again but Scarlet cut him off as she came around Strider.

"Speaking of killing Perry. I suggest you and Archie don't try what your friends did. Ella didn't miss. She's a good shot. What I did to Jack will be nothing compared to what I'll do to you you try something like that." Scarlet growled.

Perry took a step back. He could tell he'd found the bad temper he'd heard about.
"How come you didn't kill the men that rode with Jack too?"

"Jack's men weren't worth the trouble. They weren't loyal enough to hunt me down for his death either."

Perry looked at Archie "I hope yer more loyal to me than you were to Jack."

Scarlet knew all the men that had ridden with Jack had died years ago. Obviously Archie was working from someone else's reputation. She eyed Archie again. "Same goes for you as for Smith there. Try anything funny I'll gut you like I did Jack. You come to avenge his death I'm willing to oblige you." She said.

"Maybe if you were after Perry but I was nothing to Jack. You probably did me a favor. I'd prefer to just live and let live. I'm still not wanted dead or alive."

Perry looked over his shoulder. Frank and Black beard had decided to come to close for his comfort. "Come on, let's go." He said to Archie then turned to Scarlet. "You have a nice day bounty hunter."

Archie turned knowing Scarlet was still watching him with interest. "That Marshal that hunted you and Jack died some years back."

"Those charges were cleared he would have been disappointed by all his trouble." She replied.

Archie touched the brim of his hat then followed after Perry.

Scarlet watched Archie take the flask from his coat pocket. "Where's Ella?" She asked the two men that had come to stand beside her.

[Elegant Ella]

"A little bit of history, that's all," replied Ella. "I won't be arresting him, so you shouldn't need anybody to drag him away."

[Scarlet Angel]

Cyrus looked at her. "Something in your voice tells me it's gonna be the kind of history a man don't like dreged up." He said with a wink. "I can see you as a little girl reading those detective stories."

Ella could hear a slight cast of humor in Cyrus' voice.

[Elegant Ella]

"It's not history a man would want spread around, but you as his boss should know it. That's why a private meeting, and telling both of you what Patches and Bill found out at the same time," replied Ella. "A soldier gave me a copy of "The Woman in White" during the War and I've been reading Wilkie Collins ever since. Alan has been telling me that I ought to try writing stories because of the letters I've sent him."

[Scarlet Angel]

"You might be good at it Ella. You've seen more life and more experiences than some of the men I know." He replied as they entered his tent. "Knowing what you know about Torres will you be comfortable working with him around?" Cyrus asked pulling out a chair for Ella.

[Elegant Ella]

"Yes, I'd be comfortable with him around," replied Ella, "Unless he reacts very badly to knowing that I know. That's another reason to have you present when he finds out that I know. He didn't prey on women, like Reuben Diaz or Drew Harper or Owen Johnson. By the way, Houston is sending a posse to collect Reuben Diaz, so he will cease to be our concern next week. It looks like I've finished finding wanted men in Dick's troop. There could be more, and Patches and Bill will keep looking, but maybe the easiest way to deal with them now is to let it be known that I've arrested those three and have posses coming to take them to justice. You might get some desertion."

[Scarlet Angel]

"The news about the posse coming is good. Someone less I will have to wonder is up to. As far as the deserters, better now then when we are on the trail. Flush out the riff raff I say." Cyrus replied.

"You asked to see me?" Orville said as he approached the tent.

"Come in, close the flap behind you." Said Cyrus. "I like promptness. This is Mrs. Ella Coatsworth."

Orville dropped the flap as he stepped through. "Ma'am." He said removing his hat.   

[Elegant Ella]

"Please sit down, Mister Torres. As you have heard, I am a Deputy Marshal. After Drew and Owen tried to break into my room, I wired to the deputies back home to ask for confirmation that they are wanted men. After I got that confirmation, I set them to looking into the backgrounds of others in Richard Kane's band."

Orville sat, clenching his hat. His fingers whitened when Ella said she had looked into his background.

"What came up under your name needs to be revealed to Cyrus here, but no one else needs to know. Cyrus, about eight years ago, Orville Torres robbed some stagecoaches. He was caught, tried and convicted, and sentenced to prison. The prison reported that he completed his sentence, and was released at the end of February."

[Scarlet Angel]

Cyrus had no smile, no frown, there was no yelling like Orville expected as he glanced from Ella to Cyrus then just cast his eyes down. Cyrus was a tough man to read in a game of cards but this was much worse.

"Thank you for keeping it between just us." Orville finally said after what seemed like an eternity of Cyrus just looking at him.

"Yer not going to deny it? Yer not going to call Ella names or tell me she has you mixed up with someone else?" Cyrus said calmly.

The calm voice was a little unnerving to Orville but he guessed it was better than Cyrus acting like a rabid coyote. "No Sir. Deputy Coatsworth speaks the truth." Orville felt some relief that Cyrus knew.

Cyrus leaned over the table and eyed Orville hard. "Tell me why you done it. Why'd you choose to rob stagecoaches for a living and how many people died because of it."

[Elegant Ella]

"Only one person died. The last stagecoach Albert and I tried to rob was a trap. My brother was killed and I surrendered," replied Orville. "Why did we choose to rob stagecoaches? '67 was a bad year. Pa died all of a sudden. Albert and I tried to keep the farm going. Albert had lost his left arm in the War. I was 16, and not up to man strength yet. We did what we could, and it looked like the crops were going to pay the loans, until a twister uprooted all of our corn a month before harvest, and wrecked the barn just for spite. Then Ma took sick, and stayed sick. Banker Murphy foreclosed the day after Ma's funeral. I think knowing that he was going to foreclose, that he wasn't going to give us extra time to pay, made her give up and die. First stagecoach we robbed was carrying Murphy and a strongbox containing the money from the auction of our home. I wanted to take that money and head West, to find a new place. But Albert went to a saloon and gambled most of it away. In the saloon, Albert heard of another strongbox on another stagecoach, and was wild to try it again. We scouted out the road, and found a good ambush site and took the stagecoach easy. Albert wasn't willing to quit, and I wasn't willing to desert my only kin. The third stagecoach was the trap."

[Scarlet Angel]

"Why an army scout? It ain't easy, there's better payin' work that is safer. And in spite what folks think there is damn little glory. The days in the saddle are long, the nights are cold and the wolves are hungry. And at times I would rather be eattin' what the wolves are than what the army is giving me. I won't judge you if you pack yer gear and go. If you stay I expect a lot. So again I ask why an Army Scout?" Cyrus still held eye contact with Orville. He thought the boy had what it took if he chose to be there but like he'd told Ella better be gone now than run out when he was needed.

[Elegant Ella]

"Richard Kane was the first prospective employer who didn't ask where I had been the last five years. All that did ask had turned me away when I answered truthfully. I thought lying was the first step into becoming an outlaw again," replied Orville. "I didn't have any knowledge of the area he was heading, but I speak the Crow language, cook, can handle horses and am a bit of a medic."

"Where did you learn the language?" asked Ella. "And how did you come to be a bit of a medic?"

"One of my cellmates was a half-breed. For entertainment, he taught me his lingo, and I taught him to read and write. I wanted to be a doctor ever since I was little. I followed the local doctor around as much as I could, and he agreed to take me on as an apprentice once I graduated from grammar school. I got a few months with him, but then Albert came home without his arm, and my folks needed my labor. If Albert had been willing to find some honest work he could do one-handed, I could have gone back to that apprenticeship."

"Cyrus, I was thinking to train some of the scouts as assistant medics. If there is any serious battle, I'm going to need helpers, and I can't depend on the army medics to be willing to treat people who aren't regular army. A lot of the scouts already know a little. I'm pretty sure Samuel will be interested in the training I plan to offer."

[Scarlet Angel]

Cyrus sat up straight and looked between Ella and Orville considering Ella's statement. "Dick doesn't ask a lot of questions. He's good at scouting but he does not belong in charge." He said slowly. His gaze fell back on Orville. "I say this to everyone who rides with me, so don't think I'm pickin' on you."

"Yes Sir." Orville replied.

"I care about yer past. Some of the men that ride with me, like you, come from, let's say questionable circumstances. If I get wind yer doing more than good natured teasing regarding it we will be having discussions. If ask you something I expect the truth. The men and women that ride with me are more than just bodies, I trust them. I even trust them to tell me things I don't want to hear. Most of all I trust them to stand tough when things get bad. Take the day ask the men what it is to ride with me if you want. You like them and what you hear get your gear and bring it over. You don't, come tell me you've decided scouting is not for you. We will part on good terms. You desert me when I am up to my knees in blood and bodies and rest assured I will come looking for you. Or if you want to get yer gear now and leave, tell me I will wish you luck in your travels."

Cyrus leaned back in his chair and waited for Orville's response.