earing that he must be very ill she left Boston that very night. But we
understood that she would start the next day, and this misinterpretation
caused my undoing--that and the sand storm.

That man Oliver has at last been arrested and is now in the jail at
Las Animas, chained with another man--a murderer--to a post in the dark
cellar. This is because he has so many times threatened the jailer. He
says that some day he will get out, and then his first act will be to
kill the keeper, and the next to kill Lieutenant Rae. He also declares
that Faye kicked him when he was in the guardhouse at the post. Of
course anyone with a knowledge of military discipline would know this
assertion to be false, for if Faye had done such a thing as that, he
might have been court-martialed.

The sheriff was actually afraid to make the arrest the first time he
went over, because so many of Oliver's friends were in town, and so he
came back without him, although he saw him several times. The second
trip, however, Oliver was taken off guard and was handcuffed and out of
the town before he had a chance to rally his friends to his assistance.
He was brought to Las Animas during the night to avoid any possibility
of a lynching. The residents of the little town are full of indignation
that the man should have attempted to kill an officer of this garrison.
He is a horse thief and desperado, and made his escape from their jail
several months back, so altogether they consider that the country can
very well do without him. I think so, too, and wish every hour in the
day that the sheriff had been less cautious. Oliver cannot be tried
until next May, when the general court meets, and I am greatly
distressed over this fact, for the jail is old and most insecure, and he
may get out at any time. The fear and dread of him is on my mind day and
night.

FORT LYON, COLORADO TERRITORY, December, 1873.

EVERYONE in the garrison seems to be more or less in a state of
collapse! The bal masque is over, the guests have departed, and all that
is left to us now are the recollections of a delightful party that gave
full return for our efforts to have it a success.

We did not dream that so many invitations would be accepted at far-away
posts, that parties would come from Fort Leavenworth, Fort Riley, Fort
Dodge, and Fort Wallace, for a long ambulance ride was necessary from
each place. But we knew of their coming in time to make preparations
for all, so there was