"I certainly am, although I ought to be ashamed of the way I've treated
my folks. All for a measly little matter, too. My eyes have been openin'
lately, and I was mighty near headin' Eastways before you came," said
the cowboy, hanging his head.

"Then perhaps you'll go back with us, and surprise the folks?" suggested
Frank eagerly.

"Well, now, I'd like to do that same, if so be you fellows mean it. You
see, my folks ain't always lived in Centerville. I thought that lots of
things you talked about seemed kinder familiar to me, for I was brought
up in that part of the State. Yes, I'll go home, and try and make up for
what I done to hurt the old folks. Somehow, just the idea of it makes me
feel better."

He eagerly questioned the boys about his people. Of course, they did not
have much news to tell him. Hank was only a year or so older than his
brother, and the absent one was very much interested in hearing how they
had met him, and what awakened Hank to a consciousness of the terrible
mistake he was making in associating with unscrupulous men.

After that Reddy assumed a new place with the boys. He seemed to be
closer to them than ever, and Frank no longer wondered why the other's
sunburned face had seemed partly familiar to him when he first met him.

"You and Hank are very much alike," he said, later on, to Reddy.

"They used to say that at home. I was just big enough to be accused of
many of Hank's tricks, and once I got a lickin' he deserved."