Friday morning, Stanley brought a telegram flimsy to where Ella and Major Martin were sitting and observing Captain Henderson teach another session of field medicine. Class sizes had dwindled since the first class 10 days ago, but there continued to be a steady demand for the instruction, even after Captain Henderson had become the primary instructor. Today's class had 7 troopers and a corporal from E Company of the 3rd Cavalry.
Ella brightened when she saw the telegram, then drooped when she opened it.
"Not bad news, I hope," said Major Martin.
"Not bad news, just not what I was hoping for," replied Ella. "Alan should have gotten my letter asking for a telegram from him last week, and it worries me that he hasn't responded."
Major Martin encouraged Ella to pour her concerns into the ear of the only person around who knew her husband.
Later that day, he wrote a letter to Doctor Alan Coatsworth in care of Harvard Medical School, and sent it off with the supply train.
Ella took the telegram to Cyrus, saying "I don't know what you want the scouts to know of this." He read,
DREW AND OWEN CONVICTED YESTERDAY AND HUNG TODAY STOP
GOING HOME STOP
TENSLEEP
Cyrus looked at Ella. "Honesty is the best where this is concerned, Ella. Drew and Owen were trouble and they had no remorse for what they done. The ones they done it to didn't provoke them in any way far as I know. If someone asks after them, I will tell them the truth. That's what I think. Unless you have a different view you would like to share?"
"Answering when asked instead of making a general announcement sounds best to me. Those two were punished as they deserved, according to evidence presented to judge and jury. I do hope no one wants vengeance for their deaths," replied Ella. "I think Reuben is facing a prison sentence, not a rope."
"I hope anyone who would seek vengeance has washed out by now. The men that were in Dick's crew have thinned out. As you know, the scouts are not all fine upstanding citizens but I think the ones that are left have had reasons for their actions of the past if they are questionable. I think you did Owen and Drew a favor by getting them to trial. These men," he said, looking over the scouts, "they tolerate bad, lewd behavior to a point. Few of them tolerate crimes against innocents. The execution Drew and Owen received was gentler than what they would have gotten here."
Ella nodded, thinking that the punishment the scouts would have given to rapists and murderers of young women would have probably started with castration, and ended with death.