Eventually Jacobo learned English in the sheep camps of Utah and Wyoming. Although he may have failed to absorb some of its grammar, he had a gift for expression, and his use of the language was crisp, sharp-edged, even poetic:
“Was a man had a dog to herd the cows. She tell ‘em, “bit the cows, bit’em,” and that dog sure bite the ankles, move the cows to milking or back to pasture, wherever the man want them to go. Then the dog die and the man don’t get another. But the man still go behind the cows and say, same way she used to say to the dog, “bite the cows, bit’em.” And those cows sure step along pretty good, just like the dog was there.”
