Complex sentence: Sending a swift horseman forward to warn Versailles, Lafayette contemplated the near mutiny of his men: he was aware that many of them had openly promised to kill him if he did not lead or get out of the way.
Split into simpler sentences: Sending a swift horseman forward to warn Versailles, Lafayette contemplated the near mutiny of his men. He was aware that many of them had openly promised to kill him if he did not lead or get out of the way.