an entire chapter.

Perhaps the best that can be done to give the reader an idea of him is
to say that he was a great, fat, red man, and known among his brother
officers as "the swearing major". If anyone in the army loved good
living, it was Major Blossom; and if anyone hated hard living, that man
was Major George Blossom. He hated Mexicans, too, and mosquitoes, and
scorpions, and snakes, and sand-flies, and all enemies to his rest and
comfort; and the manner in which he swore at these natural foes would
have entitled him to a high commission in the celebrated army of
Flanders.

Major Blossom was a quarter-master in more senses than one, as he
occupied more quarters than any two men in the army, not excepting the
general-in-chief; and when many a braver man and better officer was cut
down to "twenty-five pounds of baggage", the private lumber of Major
Blossom, including himself, occupied a string of wagons like a
siege-train.

As I entered the tent he was seated at supper. The viands before him
were in striking contrast to the food upon which the army was then
subsisting. There was no gravel gritting between the major's teeth as
he masticated mess-pork or mouldy biscuit. He found no _debris_ of sand
and small rocks at the bottom of his coffee-cup. No; quite the
contrary.

A dish of pickled salmon, a side of cold turkey, a plate of sliced
tongue, with a fine Virginia ham, were the striking features of the
major's supper, while a handsome French coffee-urn, containing the
essence of Mocha, simmered upon the table. Out of this the major from
time to time replenished his silver cup. A bottle of _eau-de-vie_, that
stood near his right hand, assisted him likewise in swallowing his ample
ration.

"Major Blossom, I presume?" said I.

"My name," ejaculated the major, between two swallows, so short and
quick that the phrase sounded like a monosyllable.

"I have received orders to report to you, sir."

"Ah! bad business! bad business!" exclaimed the major, qualifying the
words with an energetic oath.

"How, sir?"

"Atrocious business! dangerous service! Can't see why they sent me."

"I came, Major, to inquire the nature of the service, so that I may have
my men in order for it."

"Dangerous service!"

"It is?"

"Infernal cut-throats! thousands of 'em in the bushes--bore a man
through as soon as wink. Those yellow devils are worse than--!" and
again the swearing major wound up with an exclamation not