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But he never forgot Juana, the Indian girl his rival had stolen from him. When Montenegro finally went too far, was arrested and put behind the bars, Jimmy seized his chance and went off with Juana. After she had borne him several children he did what he could to legalize her position by marrying her. And he finally risked an appearance in town, got his claim to his own lands recorded. He became a respectable, retired, sheep-ranching outlaw. By the time the Childses met her, Juana's earlier charms had faded and thickened; she seemed to think that, as far as women were concerned, Jimmy was still a somewhat hard case.
Some of the tales Jimmy told his guests to illustrate his contention that Patagonia was a man's country: a favorite Indian pick-me-up for a hangover was a mixture of raw liver, heart, kidneys and blood of a guanaco (llama-like native antelope). When two men were having a fight, one bit off the other's ear; the earless man got his opponent down, beat him about the face till he swallowed the ear. As indication that not all Patagonian hard cases are yet dead, jailed or retired, Jimmy wrote the Childses after their departure that he was sorry to say that a man Mrs. Childs had danced the tango with had since been shot.