They judge a man out here by his honesty and his courage, and it's right they should.  Most ways a man can go in this country he goes into danger, so you want a man alongside you who has guts.  You don't want to start a wagon across the trails with a coward who'll quit the first time you run into trouble... he'll get you killed.

And if you're doing business out here, a man's word has to be good.  We don't have lawyers and courts to decide, and we don't have a lot of legal nonsense to go through.  If I buy cattle from a man and he tells me he's got ten thousand head, there'd better be ten thousand head... but there will be.  No need to count 'em.

That's why if a man is called a coward or a liar it's a shooting matter.  Nobody wants to associate or do business with either.  Man can't afford to let folks call him either one.