hat many of Oliver's
friends were in the town, and that it was their intention to kill Faye
as he came in the court room. He even described the man who was to do
the dreadful work, and he told Faye that if he went over without an
escort he would certainly be killed.

This was simply maddening, and I begged Faye to ask for a guard, but he
would not, insisting that there was not the least danger, that even a
desperado would not dare shoot an army officer in Las Animas in a public
place, for he knew he would be hung the next moment. That was all very
well, but it seemed to me that it would be better to guard against the
murder itself rather than think of what would be done to the murderer. I
knew that the corporal would never have come to the house if he had not
heard much that was alarming.

So Faye went over without a guard, but did condescend to wear his
revolvers. He says that the first thing he saw as he entered the court
room were six big, brawny cavalrymen, each one a picked man, selected
for bravery and determination. Of course each trooper was armed with
large government revolvers and a belt full of cartridges. He also saw
that they were sitting near, and where they could watch every move of
a man who answered precisely to the corporal's description, and as he
passed on up through the crowd he almost touched him. His hair was long
and hung down on his shoulders about a face that was villainous, and he
was "armed to the teeth." There were other tough-looking men seated near
this man, each one armed also.

Colonel Bissell had heard of the threat to kill Faye, and ordered a
corporal, the very man who searched so bravely through the dark house
for Oliver at Granada, and five privates to the court, with instructions
to shoot at once the first and every man who made the slightest move to
harm Faye! Those men knew very well what the soldiers were there for,
and I imagine that after one look at their weather-beaten faces, which
told of many an Indian campaign, the villains decided that it would be
better to keep quiet and let Oliver manage his own affairs.

A sergeant and one or two privates were summoned by Oliver to give
testimony against Faye, but each one told the same story, and said most
emphatically that Faye had not done more than speak to the man in the
line of duty, and as any officer would have done. Directly after guard
mounting, and as the new guard marches up to the guardhouse, the old
guard is ordered o