 Later in the film, when Cogburn and Mattie witnessed two children caning a mule with sharpened sticks, Cogburn quickly intervened, cutting the mule loose and roughly throwing the two children onto the ground in retaliation.After Mattie was snakebitten, he rode through the night, holding her, in order to get her medical care.When the horse collapsed, he mercy-killed it with his revolver and then carried her a long distance in his arms to get her to a doctor, both saving her life and proving he really had the true grit Mattie thought he did.