the norrises were well-to-do before mr norris became sick after this his business was left to uninterested persons so much that after his death all the property even to the home had to be sold to pay his debts and the expenses of the long sick ness tim the only child was then very ' young and could do nothing to help earn a living his mother's health had been broken down owing to the close attention she had to give her husband during the last two years he lived but upon her rested the responsibility of gaining a living she rented a small house and beg-an to take in sewing upon her scanty earning-s she and her son lived as soon as tim was strong enough to do anything he did what he could to help but as the settlement in which he lived had a population of only about one thousand composed mostly of ranchers and stock raisers work for a young boy was not plentiful they managed to get along someway however until tim was fourteen years of age it was then that he got his first steady job the man who employed him was john lennox a wealthy rancher and stock owner he was a business man in every sense his much dealing with people had given him the impression that very few do exactly the square thing consequently he was very particular whom he trusted he put tim to work doing odd jobs around his home he did the work so well and was always so pleasant that mr lennox took a liking to him he had several long talks with tim regarding his plans for the future and from them he found that tim's ambition was to make his mother happy he meant to accomplish this first by bettering their financial conditions and next by making something out of himself so that she might feel repaid for the trials and sorrows she had endured in rearing him in order to do this he thought the best thing to do would