There were several rough-looking
men at the station, but if they had intended mischief, the long
infantry rifles in the hands of drilled soldiers probably persuaded
them to attend to their own affairs. A man told the corporal, however,
that Oliver's friends had decided not to kill Faye at the station, but
had gone out on horseback to meet him on the road. This was certainly
misery prolonged.
The mules were driven through the town at an ordinary gait, but when
we got on the plain they were put at a run, and for miles we came at
that pace. The little black shaved-tails pulled the ambulance, and I
think that for once they had enough run. The moonlight was wonderfully
bright, and for a long distance objects could be seen, and bunches of
sage bush and Spanish bayonet took the forms of horsemen, and
naturally I saw danger in every little thing we passed.
One thing occurred that night that deserves mentioning. Some one told
the soldiers that Oliver was hidden in a certain house, and one of
them, a private, started off without leave, and all alone for that
house. When he got there the entire building was dark, not a light in
it, except that of the moon which streamed in through two small
windows. But the gritty soldier went boldly in and searched every
little room and every little corner, even the cellar, but not a living
thing was found. It may have been brave, but it was a dreadful thing
for the trooper to do, for he so easily could have been murdered in
the darkness, and Faye and the soldiers never have known what had
become of him. Colonel Bissell declares that the man shall be made a
corporal upon the first vacancy.
The man Oliver was in the jail at Las Animas last summer for stealing
horses. The old jail was very shaky, and while it was being made more
secure, he and another man - a wife murderer - were brought to the
guardhouse at this post. They finally took them back, and Oliver
promptly made his escape, and the sheriff had actually been afraid to
re-arrest him. We have all begged Faye to get out a warrant for the
man, but he says it would simply be a farce, that the sheriff would
pay no attention to it. The whole left side of Faye's face is badly
swollen and very painful, and the wound in his ankle compels him to
use a cane. Just how the man managed to shoot Faye in the ankle no one
seems to understand.
Granada must be a terrible place! The very afternoon Faye was there a
Mexican was murdered in the main street, but not the slightest
attention was paid to the shooting - everything went right on as though
it was an everyday occurrence.
