The evening times., 1900-03-17
THE FILIPINO IGORROlE
His Good Service During the Chase
of Aguinaldo
A Correspondent Who Voluntarily
Paid the TagaI burden Hearers
Ten Cents a Day When the Market
Rate Was Only Seven-The Ameri
can Troops i'm the Town of Bagnan.

town several hours before, but hoped TO get
some information there which would put
him on the right track.
At Bagnan. which was mercy collection
of huts on steep, sloping mountain side,
hundreds of Igorrotes were wa ting TO
greet us.
As the column entered the town the
presidenta gave a signal with his cane and
they burst into a loud shouting, viva
Espanol! viva Espanoli" The major looked
discouraged Before he did anything e.se
he called up the presidenta and selected
chorus of lusty lunged Igorrotes and taught
them to repeat after him. Viva America
nos viva Americanos!" The IgoTotes
were willing. Viva Americaaos" means
as much To them as Viva Espanol" or
Viva Chicago or anything e.se. They
are much like the Chicago newsboys. They
wanted something ito holler," and one
thing was as good as another, and meant
about as much.
Ii was discouraging TO the major, after
he had carefully drilled his chorus and in
formed them who we were and whence We
came to have one of them point at him
as he walked away and say in bie5thless
tone TO the other IgorroJes about him,
"Aguinaldo." Major March eApl1inei that
he was not Aguinaldo but it did no good.
Only a few had any clear idea OF who or
what AguinaldO was, and Maj r March
came as near realizing their ideal as any
body. so Jhey at once applied to him that
name.
There was not much TO eat in Bagnan.
The chief and, in fact about the olly. food
OF the people seemed to be a spt cies of
sweet potato, which was not sweet in spite
Of its name. hut which the soldiers eagerly
bought as welcome change from the ever
lasting rice.
The men made camp fires and crowded
about, for the evening was decidedly cool
The Igorrotes sat stolidly huddled up in
their blankets in the middle of the road
and everywhere else they could get that
was directly in the road. II was mpos-
sible TO step without walking over an
Igorrote The soldiers would scowI at
them to move out of the way. but they
merely looked stupidity ahead and contin-
ued to squat where they were
Finally. the eNasperated soldiery having
exhausted a vocabulary of expletives that
would have made an old and hardened
army mule fail on his knees in repen aaee
and tears. spoke no more TO the igOrrotc
brethren II they wanted cne 10 get our
of the road they simply pushed him over
and rolled him down the rrail II they
wanted one TO go TO the spring after water
they merely put canteen in his hands.
pulled him TO his feet. turned his face to-
ward the spring. and gave him kick. The
momentum usually sufficed to carry the
Igorrote to the water and the alluring
glare Of the camp fire brought him back. If
he forgot. TO get the water. two soldiers
would kick him at once and the increased
stock of energy was generally sufficient 10
carry him 10 the spring and enable him 10
fiji the canJeen before he ran down.
Major March and his officers took pos
session Of little building which the Span
ish friars had erected and used as a mis-
sion and schoolhouse. There were great
cracks on the floor aud the cold mountain
wind swooped into the room with roar.
II was as cold as the lake winds in winter.
We tried 10 sleep but the floor was the
hardest | had ever slept on. The wind
howled and shrieked and il was so cold
that we would wake every now and then
with our teeth chattering and our feet
and hands fairly numb.
Added 10 the cold were some $50 dis
lirct and separate smells peculiar to Igor
rote towns Each different wind as it
whistled up through the holes in the floor
was laden with a new and more appalling
smell We took the blankets from our
shivering bodies and wrapped them about
our heads TO keep out the lgorrote odors,
hut those vigorous and perniciously active
smells would have gone through brick
wall. and all We could do was to try to
sleep.
MANY Of the soldiers especially those
who had no blankets. sat all night crowded
around their camp fires where the CHEEKY
hIaze and the fresh smell of burning pine
kent awav both the cold and the smells.
OF course. they have their troubles, too.
They would send Igorrotes after fresh wood
for the fire and the lgorrotes would never
come back They would simply move over
and squat down by he side of another fire.
When The soldiers in despair would go
themselves after the wood they would find
when they came back a dozen Igorrotes,
their blankets over their heads. sitting
like wooden images about the cheerful
blaze. and some of them fairly sitting on
top of the glowing embers The soldiers
would sadly turn the simple natives on
their sides and roll them down hill. but
soon they would be back again.
We slept as long as we could in the mis-
sion house. and then. one by one during
the night. we would steal out and sit for
a while at fire and then 20 back and
try 10 sleep again.
Toward morning the soldiers began cook
ing breakfast. Sergeant Major MacDougal
was al work boiling potatoes on fireplace
in "A native shack. The fireplace was like
big table covered with earth. on which
three or four fires could be made. Never
was a more p>thetic figure seen than that
same Sergeant Major MacDougal as he
tended the fires with one hand and be-
labored the Igorrotes. who were squatting
on top of the table. with the other. They
were not content to stand on the floor
as the soldiers did. They mounted the ta-
bic itself and sat almost in the fire Not
one stick of wood did they bring nor did
they even offer to help put fresh fuel on
the fire They only squatted and blinked
like frogs. and whenever the sergeant ma
jor would turn his back they would COM
pletely encircle the fires.
When the sergeant major returned with
new supply of wood and a fresh lot of
invectives they would merely blink at him
reproachfulfy.
We waited in the morning for the return
of the two Igorrote runners whom Major
March had sent over to Bontoc the night
before They left at s o'clock at night and
returned before s the next morning hav-
ing covered the fourteen miles of noun
tain trail to Bontoc and return in that
time. Besides that they discovered that
Agunaldo had left Bohtoc and taken a
trail to the south and that further pur-
suit by our column would be useless. To
prove the truth of their statements they
brought notes written in Spanish by Span
ish prisoners in Bontoc and also by insur-
gent soldiers. who offered to surrender if
our command would come to Bontoc
Tb.ca .u5o runners pr0Vpd that there W. :