Dan leaves the town in Johnny's hands with the advice to back down from trouble when he can.  However, three young toughs start causing trouble Johnny can't back down from.  He's forced into a shoot-out with them and outdraws the leader just as Dan rides back into town to help him out with the other two.  When Johnny reckons how he didn't exactly follow orders to back down, Dan tells him he only told him to back down whenever he could.  Sometimes it's not possible to back down.  He did right to go ahead.  He made the right choice, "for a man."