Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net [Illustration: Neither spoke, a daze over them, the dull shock of death's close passing bewildering and deep. _Page_ 120] THE FLOCKMASTER OF POISON CREEK BY G. W. OGDEN AUTHOR OF THE DUKE OF CHIMNEY BUTTE, THE LAND OF LAST CHANCE, Etc. FRONTISPIECE BY P. V. E. IVORY GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS NEW YORK Made in the United States of America Copyright A. C. McClurg & Co. 1921 Published March, 1921 Copyrighted in Great Britain CONTENTS I The Sheep Country 1 II Swan Carlson 15 III The Fight 27 IV Keeper of the Flock 34 V Tim Sullivan 49 VI Eyes in the Firelight 57 VII The Easiest Lesson 67 VIII The Sheep-Killer 76 IX A Two-Gun Man 87 X Wild Riders of the Range 97 XI Hector Hall Sets a Beacon 111 XII One Comes to Serve 127 XIII A Fight Almost Lost 136 XIV The Lonesomeness 149 XV Only One Jacob 160 XVI Reid Begins His Play 173 XVII Hertha Carlson 181 XVIII Swan Carlson's Day 195 XIX Not Cut out for a Sheepman 207 XX A Million Gallops Off 212 XXI Tim Sullivan Breaks a Contract 222 XXII Phantoms of Fever 233 XXIII Concerning Mary 239 XXIV More About Mary 252 XXV One Man's Joke 262 XXVI Payment on Account 270 XXVII A Summons in the Night 287 XXVIII Swan Carlson Laughs 296 XXIX Sheepman--And More 308 THE FLOCKMASTER OF POISON CREEK CHAPTER I THE SHEEP COUNTRY