The Bozeman weekly chronicle. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1883-1889, 1886-12-29
Whole No. 2o4

way, SHOULD soon argue that man had but
to change his name to change his identity,
and that when Charlotte Brown called her
self Julia Smith shs became Julia Smith.
This alarmed me little. Then the ridicu-
lousness of my condition came over me, and
! laughed aloud
"What are you laughing at" said Broener.
"At fool saw yesterday, when looked
in the glass, who took strolling actress for
a girl he knew in the states / said, In q
mood made up of petulance and vexatioh
Broener turned half round and gave me q
look, apparently half surprise, half anger.
l had 'brOken out in a new spot" for him,
and in the remark he had possibly recog-
nized an attempt Of mine in his own fashion
to throw him off his guard Il was not
The words were born Of the mood was Ia,
and had flown out of my lips as Of their own
voLti,n Suddenly l recollected that the
term = trolling actress had used was not
one indicative of the highest respect for the
lady in question, and that under the eircum-
stances it could not have fallen sgreeably on
Broener's ears. apologized for having
used such expression.
He received my apology in silence. Isaw
by this he meant to punish me, and Of course
my feelings against him were not &C AL
leSsened
Meantime the other cloud ON Bull Bar was
darkening for me. Pratt became woTse
The physician talked of brain fever and
looked grave He added beside that some
secret was on Pratt's mind He inferred
there 'must have been a quarrel and much
Ill will betwixu Pratt and ONE one previous
to e-ahern-accident" Pratt TGyed con-
tinually about the "young un," who thought
he owned the whole mountain" He was
ever being 'dogged about the chRpparal by
him" and so on
Mr.. William Setter drank in with his
gossipy, greedy ears Pratt's utterances and
the doctors opinions He visited Pratt's
cabin on his way to work In the morning,
dropped in at noon and again at night. He
made himself an assistant nurse TO Pratt
brought him choice dishes and broths Of his
own making and he could make them well
He was really useful. Besides, he carried
from Pratt's house messes OF gossip, which
he distributed as a labor of love all over Bull
Bar. Mr.. Settlers forte as a suspicion
breeder lay in inferences. He had no direcS
charge against any one. But he said IL was
"queer piece of business" Pratt, poor man.
had been trying to get along and earn an
honest living He as good as supported Hill
year. who hadn't much gumption anyway.
Young Holder, he added, found Pratt with
those hurts on his head Pratt couldn't bear
the sight of Holder. Always set him to run
min on about shootin' and rowin' Holder
was up the mountain that day He saw him
at least it looked like his shirt in the
bushes. Well it was queer business"
Such is a sample of the applications made
~ Mr.. Setter for individuals singly and in
dividuals in groups for eight or ten days
He was in this work earnest and persevering
in season and out of season He "set people
to thinking" He educated them, in fact, to
think suspiciously of me in connection with
Pratt. Ordinarily on Bull Bar "shootin'
scrape" between two men, even IL one was
killed, might not get any farther than the
local Justices court; might not get even
there The community tacitly acknowledged
the pistol as the main arbiter in all manner
of disputes Smith Jumped" Jones' claim.
Jones shot Smith dead Nobody had time to
inquire closely into the matter. The affair
was two days sensation. In a week It was
quite forgotten.
But in this case here was Mr. Settlers
poor sick man. and his partner devoting
his whole time to him, and l, John Holder
in some mysterious way mixed up with them
Mr.. Setter played several chords on the
various human hearts of a thousand strings
he handled First sympathy, next mystery
and beyond that something dark-he would
not say what-only something resembling
myself or my red shirt on Scrub mountain
could in the many views presented by him to
his audiences be vaguely made out In tae
general indistinctness
So this busy man went on poisoning the
Bull Bar mind against me.