"I'll tell you, Kate," said Belle, after listening as patiently as she could to what Kate had to say about the Falling Wall fight and its consequences, "I like you. I can't help liking you. But the only reason you talk the way you do is because you haven't lived in this country long. You don't know this country--you don't know the people." McAlpin nodded strongly: "That's so, that's true." "I, at least, know common honesty, I hope." "But you don't know anything at all of what you are talking about," insisted Belle, "and if you think I'm ever going to agree with you that it was right for Van Horn and your father and their friends to take a bunch of Texas men up into the Falling Wall and shoot and burn men because they're rustlers, you're very much mistaken. And I can tell you the people of this country won't agree with you either, no matter what some folks in this town may say to tickle your ears." "Do you mean to say you stand up for thieves, too?" asked Kate, hotly. McAlpin looked apprehensively out at the clouds. Belle twitched her shoulders: "You needn't be so high and mighty about it," she retorted. "No, I don't. And I don't stand up for burning men alive because they brand mavericks. You talk very fierce--like everybody up your way. But if Abe Hawk or Jim Laramie walked in here this minute, you wouldn't agree to have them shot down. And don't you forget it, Jim Laramie doesn't claim a hoof of anybody's cattle but his own." Kate would not back down: "Why do they call him king of the rustlers?" she demanded. "King of the rustlers, nothing," echoed Belle in disgust. "That's barroom talk. No decent man ever accused him of branding so much as a horse hair that didn't belong to him." "And his reputation is, he's not very slow when it comes to shooting, either," declared Kate. McAlpin thought it a time for oil on the waters! "You've got to make allowances," he urged with dignity. "Ten years ago--less'n that, even--they was all pretty quick on the trigger in this country. Jim was a kid 'n' he had to travel with the bunch." "And he was quicker 'n any of them," interposed Belle, defiantly, "wasn't he, Mac?" McAlpin was for moderation and better feeling: "Well," he admitted gravely, "full as quick, I guess." "It seems to me," observed Kate, still resentful, "as if men here are pretty quick yet." "Oh, no," interposed McAlpin at once; "oh, no, not special now'days. More talk'n there used to be--heap more." "Bring over my pony, Mr. McAlpin, will you?" asked Kate, very much irritated. McAlpin looked surprised: "You wouldn't be ridin' home tonight?" "Yes," replied Kate, sharply, "I would." As McAlpin started on his way she turned on Belle: "And you mustn't forget, Belle, that vigilantes, no matter whether they do make mistakes or go too far, have built this country up and made it safe to live in."