He Had Drifted Into That Outlandish
Place When Young, And Finding The Native System Of Life Congenial Had
Made Himself
As much of a native as he could, and dressed like them
and talked their language, and was horse-breaker,
Cattle-drover, and
many other things by turn, and like any other gaucho he could make his
own bridle and whip and horse-gear and lasso and bolas out of raw
hide. And when not working he could gamble and drink like any gaucho
to the manner born - and fight too. But here there was a difference.
Jack could affiliate with the natives, yet could never be just like
them. The stamp of the foreigner, of the Englishman, was never wholly
eradicated. He retained a certain dignity, a reserve, almost a
stiffness, in his manner which made him a marked man among them, and
would have made him a butt to the wits and bullies among his comrades
but for his pride and deadly power. To be mocked as a foreigner, a
gringo, an inferior being, was what he could not stand, and the result
was that he had to fight, and it then came as a disagreeable
revelation that when Jack fought he fought to kill. This was
considered bad form; for though men were often killed when fighting,
the gaucho's idea is that you do not fight with that intention, but
rather to set your mark upon and conquer your adversary, and so give
yourself fame and glory.
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