“Bless me! yes; so you did. Well, I have not written them yet.”
“I only want a pass from you, general, with such verbal instructions as you may please to give me.”
“So you do; the fact of it is, my interest in the moral welfare of my men had driven the matter out of my mind.”
The general called an orderly; and Somers was sent off to the adjutant for the pass, which was given to him under the name he had assumed. When he returned, the general was sound asleep on his camp-stool, rolling about like a ship in a gale, with a prospect of soon landing at full length on terra firma. Somers would gladly have received some military information from the general, who was in a condition to tell all he knew; which, however, could not have been much, under the circumstances. He concluded that it would be best for him not to awaken the tipsy moralist; and, after waiting a short time on the spot to avoid suspicion, he joined Major Platner, who was smoking his cigar under a tree near the headquarters.
“Well, young man, did you obtain your instructions?”
“Yes; all I require.”
“Perhaps we ought to have seen the general before dinner,” added the major, using the remark as a “feeler” to induce his companion to inform him what had transpired during the interview.
“Perhaps it would have been more agreeable to the general. However, he seemed to be in a very talkative mood.”
“He commonly is after dinner.”
“He is a very jovial, good fellow.”