Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1899-12-28
POINTS FOR RECRUITS.



transport Butuan, two days out from
Manila, arrived at Ilollo. on the Island
Of Panay, mt q T.. NJ. Oct. 3, 1899. The
party OF six recruits for the 'Steenth
Infantry, OF which l was a member,
was met at the dock by a corporal and
escorted In heavy marching order to
an outpost in the town of lara, about
five miles from Iloilo. We found Com
pany ID of our regiment comfortably
quartered In two big hotels that had
been abandoned by the Spanish when
the town was taken by the Americans.
We arrived at about p. NJ, after
tramp through mud half way to our
knees, and were promptly assigned to
quarters. The first man met in the
squadron was-"S mithie," an old bun
kie with whom had been on recruit
ing duty back in the States. He knew
me ut once, but IL was full minute
before / could discover his identity
through the mask Of tan he wore.
"H0ww he shouted, banging me be-
tween the shoulder blades with
sledge-hammer fist and hugging me
until my ribs cracked. How! When
did you vamoose the Sammies? Domi
poketa an du Yank tobacr'
'HeyT' said 1, in bewilderment.
BAH" said he, motioning me to I'M
harness and sit on his bamboo bunk,
II forgot. You no savoy the pidg. l
asked you when you left the States,
and il you had any Yankee tobacco.
Savey?'
l gave the desired information and
produced a bag of tobacco. Then l
asked:
what is savoy the pidg?'
That's understand Kakiack English
Filipino English he explained. "Sa-
Have you chow-chowed, yet? What?
Why, hang it, hombre. l asked If you
had chewed yet. Eaten. ChOw-chew
--savey? No? Wait POGO tempo.
I'll get you carabao sandwich and a
shell of tuba"
Look here, Smithie," said L in des-
peratiOn. You'll have to talk English
or hire an interpreter. What you are
talking about is more than know"
THAT so, hombrey' His tone was
that of the old campaigner patronizing
the recruit. II forgot again. You no
savoy pidg. POGO tempo, is little
while 'Carabao Is water buffalo
And tuba is 'cocoanut beer"
Smithie produced the eatables and
drink, and while satisfied my hunger
/ asked questions and did my best to
get some meaning out Of the answers.
l started in with the old campaigner's
first question,
(Which company is the best living
company in the regiment?"
"Chow-chows!" he exclaimed with
disgust. "Alle samee. Each company
mucho mala than others. Cardiac
muy tempo. Australian boki, soma
tempo. Sour bread. And chick
..ThatIl do, Smithle," said /, Just
saw it of right there and try and mus
ter enough English to tell me IL there
IL a man in Company ID who can talk
United States"
"Talkee Sammie," said he. Cert
Spyme. Mucha mala-that's very bad.
Savoy? Each company feeds worse
than the Otners. All uau rcvuSfS. S~a?
Carabao muy tempo. That's water
buffalo meat very much Of the time.
It's like shoe leather. Australian boki
That's Australian cew-cold storage.
Not so mala. We get that some of the
time. Sour bread. You savoy that
The same as in the Sammies. The
States, you know. Chick? Why that's
chickory. The same old chickory that
we always get. No choice Of feeding
companies. SaveyY
saw, and asked him about duty.
Was it severe?
'Hombre," said he, solemnly, you've
spiked the right cannon. Duty day.
Duty night. Duty between tempo.
Savoy? Outpost to-day. ALE day.
Go to sleep ON post and the bolo men
i'm the fat grass maka hash out of you.
Stay awake and the Kakiacks BOOM
boom you. Also pour mucha aqua al
lee tempo-much iluvia. Savoy? The
sky rains all the time. Guata wet.
Patos full of mud. Then the next day
you build bridge for the artillery.
When it Is built the iluvia vamoOse it.
Then you build another. You wade in
the ague neck-high with coca tree on
your shoulder and the Kakiack in the
woods across the river boom-boom at
you. You keep that up ten days-out-
post one day, build bridge the next and
then outpost again. Then one day, the
Kakiacks hit couple Of men, by
chance. His straps says 'Caramba.'
And then you go chase. You hike for
may be fifteen days. You cross rivers
on carabao and get swept of and
drowned. You wade i'm mud waist
deep all day, and sleep in the cane
brake at night. And hike-hike- hike
and shoot may be not half-a-dozen
Kakiacks."
"Smithie," said /, this is something
awful. I've listened to Cinnamon and
Indians. But / never struck anything
that resembled this hashedup lingo Of
yours. What do you think you are
warbling about, anyway
What talkee?" eclaimed Smithie in
dignantly. why, I'm telling you
about duty. Out post one day and
build bridge the next. The Kakiacks
they are the natives with guns-shoot
Mt you, and the bolomen-they are the
natives with swords-crawl up in the
high glass and slash at you. You wade
around In the river with ton cocoa
nut tree on your shoulder and the
damned Kakiacks take pops mt YOU.