Corona did not go to bed at once. She sat from twelve to one writing a letter to her Uncle Clarence, not knowing how the next was to be mailed to him. The next morning was so clear, bright, and beautiful that every one said that it must be the perfection of Indian summer. On the road outside the walls five strong army wagons, to which stout mules were harnessed, stood in a line. These were to serve the men as carriages by day and couches by night. Besides these, there were two carriages of better make and more comfortable fittings for the captain and the ladies of his party. The farewell breakfast at the colonel's quarters partook of the nature of an official banquet. It was unnecessarily prolonged. At length the company left the table. Mrs. Neville and Mrs. Rothsay went to their rooms to put on hats and cloaks. As soon as they were ready they came down to bid good by to Mrs. ---- and some other ladies who had come to the colonel's quarters to see them off. When these adieus were all said, the colonel gave Mrs. Rothsay his arm to lead her to the carriage, which stood in line with the army wagons on the road outside the walls. Captain and Mrs. Neville had gone on before. "There, the steamer has landed, and here are some people coming up from it," said the colonel, pausing at the gate with Corona on his arm, as a heavy carriage, drawn by a pair of powerful draught horses, came up from the steamboat landing and drew up at the gate. A tall man, in a long overcoat and a fur cap, jumped down and approached Corona. "Uncle Clarence! Oh, heaven of heavens! Uncle Clarence!" she exclaimed, pale and faint with excess of surprise and joy. "Yes, my dear; I am going with you. See, I have my own carriage and horses, brought all the way by steamer from St. Louis. Our own servants, brought all the way from North End. Now introduce me to your friend here, and later I will tell you all about it," said the new comer, with a smile, as he kissed his niece. "Oh, Colonel ----, this is my dear Uncle Clarence--Mr. Clarence Rockharrt, I mean," said Corona, in a rapture of confusion. "How do you do, sir? I am very glad to see you. Really going over the plains with this train?" inquired the colonel, as the two gentlemen shook hands. CHAPTER XXXV. THE NEW COMERS. "Yes, colonel," briskly replied Clarence, "I am really going out to the frontier! I have not enlisted in the army, nor have I received any appointment as post trader or Indian agent from the government, nor missionary or schoolmaster from any Christian association. But, all the same, I am en route for the wilderness on my own responsibility, by my own conveyance, at my own expense, and with this outgoing trail--if there be no objection," added Clarence, with a sudden obscure doubt arising in his mind that there might exist some military regulation against the attachment of any outsider to the trail of army wagons going over the plains from fort to fort.