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A timid old man from back East has chosen to make a go at life on the wild prairies of Kansas. He leaves his humble hut to come to Mat with a problem. He is terrified at hearing indians prowling around his place at night. Matt assures him that indians don’t behave in the way that is described, and advises the man to get a gun for self defense.
It doesn’t take long before an honest rancher demands that Matt arrest the man for killing one of his hands. Matt takes his time to gather clues, determining the man probably shot his imaginary indians in self defense. The killing was more an accident than deliberate aim.
Thinking justice is moving too slow, the rancher doesn’t stop his other ranch hand, and accomplice in the fake indian harrawssment, to take justice in his own hands and kill the timid man for killing his friend. If the definition of meekness is self control, when you have the physical power to be destructive, Matt is a very meek man indeed as he confronts the rancher. There’s nothing else to be done than to lock up the unruly cowboy, and give the honest rancher a tongue lashing to put him in his place.
Classic scene when Matt is chewing out the rancher: “The law is new out here, and sometimes it doesn’t work the way you want it to. In fact, most people think it should act the way they would act if there was no law. ” or words to that affect.
