Riggs wheeled in his chair. "Colonel Button, it has been fully explained to this—man, and to the next, that what they tell us here is to be just what they would swear to before a court. You can decide for yourself on hearing it whether you wish them to swear to it or not. Now, Rawdon, tell us how you came to enlist."
"As the representative of three newspapers, in Chicago and the East. They were anxious to have an Indian campaign, and the life of an enlisted man, described as it really was. I joined a squad of recruits for this regiment right after the news of the Crazy Horse Battle on Powder River."
"Do you still hold that job?"
"No, sir;" and there was a twitch of the muscles about the corners of the mouth suggestive of amusement.
"Why?"
"I failed to—give satisfaction. Only scraps of my letters were published."
"What did they want?"
"Criticism principally, and confirmation of the stories of abuse and ill treatment of soldiers by their officers."
"Were your letters never published?"
"Three of them, eventually, after the campaign—in the New York Morning Mail."