The little trading town of Independence was a busy place in the frontier years of the Middle West.  Ungentle and unlovely as it was, it was the great gateway between the river traffic on the one side, and the plains commerce of the far Southwest on the other.  At the wharf at Westport, only a few miles away, the steamers left their cargoes of flour and bacon, coffee and calicoes, jewelry and sugar—­whatever might have a market value to merchants beyond the desert lands.  And here these same steamers took on furs, and silver bullion, and such other produce of the mountains and mines and open plains as the opulently laden caravans had toiled through long days, overland, to bring to the river’s wharf.

To-day the same old gateway stands as of yore.  But it may be given only to men who have seen what I have seen, to know how that our Kansas City, the Beautiful, could grow up from that old wilderness outpost of commerce threescore and more years ago.

The Clarenden store was the busiest spot in the center of this busy little town.  Goods from both lines of trade entered and cleared here.  In front of the building three Conestoga wagons with stout mule teams stood ready.  A fourth wagon, the Dearborn carriage of that time, filled mostly with bedding, clothing, and the few luxuries a long camping-out journey may indulge in, waited only for a team, and we would be off to the plains.

Jondo and Bill Banney were busy with the last things to be done before we started.  Aunty Boone sat on a pile of pelts inside the store, smoking her pipe.  Beverly and Mat stood waiting in the big doorway, while I sat on a barrel outside, because my ankle was still a bit stiff.  A crowd had gathered before the store to see us off.  It was not such a company as the soldier-men at the fort.  The outlaw, the loafer, the drunkard, the ruffian, the gambler, and the trickster far outnumbered the stern-faced men of affairs.  When the balance turns the other way the frontier disappears.  Mingling with these was a pale-faced invalid now and then, with the well-appointed new arrivals from the East.

“What are we waiting for, Bev?” I asked, as the street filled with men.

“Got to get another span of moolies for our baby-cart.  Uncle Esmond hadn’t counted on the nurse and the cook going, you know, but he rigged this littler wagon out in a twinkle.”

“That’s the family carriage, drawn by spirited steeds.  Us children are to ride in it, with Daniel Boone to help with the driving,” Mat added.

Just then Esmond Clarenden appeared at the door.

“How soon do you start, Clarenden?” some one in the crowd inquired.

“Just as soon as I can get a pair of well-broken mules,” he replied.  “I’m looking for the man who has them to sell quick.  I’m in a hurry.”

“What’s your great rush?” a well-dressed stranger asked.  “They tell me things look squally out West.”

“All the more reason for my being in a hurry then,” Uncle Esmond returned.