Water Valley progress., 1903-03-07

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until they had sent for the potato
king of Banquet
"They sent a native runner up into
the mountains, and two days later we
sat in front of a napa shack and
watched strange procession wind it's
way down the mountain side. At it's
head came tremendously tall man
wrapped in native costume. Imme-
diately behind him was his wife, a
squat native woman. Trailing along
were Is or 90 little brown 'niggers.'
"The natives of our village turned
out to meet the procession with much
dignity. The native band met the Wis
itors half mile out and preceded them
into the town. They marched in state
to the largest shack in the village, and
when everything had been arranged
we Americans were invited in to take
part, in the conference.
"As the procession passed us on it's
way through the village we had made
out that the tall man at the head of the
delegation from the mountains was a
white man. His face and hands were
white, and he wore big blond mus
tache. So far as dress was concerned
he was native pure and simple.
FINALLY the head natives of the vii
lage came and asked us to join them
in a conference. We went. The ma
tives were squatting in half moon
about the fire. At the very center sat
the white man-whom we recognized
at glance as Capt. Buffer.
"The negotiators on our side spoke
in English, and Buffer answered in the
same way. We were able to reach
satisfactory conclusion in short time,
Buffer acting as interpreter.
'After the decision had been reached
and the conference had adjourned /
took advantage of chance to talk to
Buffer. He told me story something
like this:
'I was never anything but noL-
combatant. you know. Finally got
letter ofpdismissal as correspondent.
At that time the column l was with
was way up in the interior of the is
land. | was thrown on my own re-
sources, without any chance to form
another profitable engagement. And
l had no idea of going back to where 1
was known and appealing for help.
I had picked up good deal of the
dialect of one of the tribes-I was al
ways quick at that sort of thing And
when my money was gone / simply left
.thescolumn and took up my residence
with tribe which was not and never
had been engaged in hostilities against
the United States. I made up my mind
then and there that would spend the
rest of my life with them. AS cer-
tain method of burning my bridges be-
hind me married the daughter of the
chief Of the tribe. She is my wife who
came down the mountain with me this
afternoon. We have little son, who in
the course of time, and unless there is
change of policy. will be the recog-
nized chief of our people.
MY people have never done any reg
ular work of any kind. They were not
warlike, but depended chiefly on the
unassisted product of the tropical jun
giles for their livelihood
81 was the first great reformer who
had ever come among them. My serv-
ice with the army of the United States
had taught me that the soldiers were
always hungry for potatoes-the good,
old-fashioned Irish variety. knew by
experience how hard it was to find
them away from Manila. and one of the
irstthingsI did after taking up my res
ldence with the natives was to send q
runner across the country to friend
OF mine in the army after bushel Of
them.
"'The potatoes came and we split
them up and planted them in the sandy
soil of the mountain slopes. The
ground was made for potatoes and the
crop was enormous. About the time
was showing my people how to dig po-
tatoes along came column of soldiers.
and sent some of my men down the
mountain to sell the crop to them, and
every potato was sold at what to the
natives was huge price.
"sEven before that 1 was prom
inent man in their counsels, but now /
was made king. Ever since then /
have been known as the Potato king
OF Banquet" and don't suppose shall
ever win a prouder title. At any rate.
am perfectly satisfied. 1 have made
up my mind to spend the rest of my life
here with these people. None of NV
old friends knows where am and none
Of them shall ever know
Early the next morning Capt. Bull
fer, his wife, and retinue started on
their return journey up the mountain.
watched them until they had gone