Savages of Gor

"Notice the ma

"The first one," said Samos, "has his lance in the attack position."

"He, then, will be the first to die," I said.

"Of course," said Kog.

One of the other mounted hunters held his lance in his right hand, its buttresting on his thigh. From this position he could rapidly bring the lance to theattack position. He was, accordingly, the second fellow with whom the man mustdeal. A third mounted hunter held the lance across his body, it resting in thecrook of his left arm. He was the third fellow to reckon with. The other twomounted hunters still wore their lances in their shoulder loops, slung acrosstheir back. They might be saved to last.

"The man removes his bow from the fringed, beaded bow case," said Kog. "Hestrings the bow." The bow, of course, is left unstrung until it is ready to beused. This conserves the resilience of the wood and the tightness and strengthof the sinew string. "From his quiver," said Kog, "he extracts six arrows. Threehe holds, with the bow, in his left hand. One he fits to the string. Two heholds in his mouth."

"The first mounted hunter is prepared to attack," said Samos.

"The man, on his snowshoes, descends the slope between himself and his enemies," said Kog, "his arrow to the string."

The range and striking power of the small bow, while not negligible, do notcompare with that of the peasant bow, or long bow. The red savage, accordingly,whenever possible, attempts to maximize the possibilities of an effective hit bydecreasing the distance between himself and the target. This fits in,incidentally, with his glorification of close combat.

The most highly regarded battle exploit among most tribes, for which the highesthonors are accorded, is not to kill an armed enemy but to touch or strike onewith the open hand. The more danger and risk that is involved in a deed, on theWhole, the greater is the concomitant glory of accomplishing it. Killing theenemy, thus, in the heraldry of the red savages, ranks far beneath the bestingof the enemy, and in a way that supposedly demonstrates one's greater prowessand courage. It is thus understandable that touching an armed enemy with theopen hand counts among most tribes as a first coup. The second and third man toaccomplish such a deed would then receive second coup and third coup. Killing anenemy with a bow and arrow from ambush, on the other hand, might be counted asonly a fifth or seventh coup.

Needless to say, the counting of coup, which is reflected in the feathers andadornments to which one is entitled, is a matter of great importance to the redsavages. Indeed, there are also, in many tribes, practical considerations, whichalso become involved in these matters. For example, it is unlikely that one canadvance within a tribe, or become a leader or chieftain, unless one hasfrequently counted coup. Too, in many tribes many tribes, a man who has notcounted coup is not permitted to mate. In other tribes, such a man, if he isover twenty-five, is permitted to mate, but he is not allowed to paint hismate's face. Thus will her shame before the other women be made clear.

The institution of counting, or tallying, coup has several obvious effects onthe structure and nature of the society of the red savages. In particular, ittends, on the whole, to arrange social hierarchies in such a way that thesociety is oriented toward aggressiveness and warfare, features, which tend toprotect and preserve, in an almost natural harmony and balance, delicaterelationships between food supplies, territories and populations. Viewed in thisma

In most tribes, incidentally, a man who refuses to go on the warpath is put inwomen's clothes and given a woman's name. He must then live as a woman.

Henceforth he is referred to in the female gender. Needless to say, she is neverpermitted to mate. Sometimes she must even serve the members of a warriorsociety, as a captive female.

Interestingly enough, whites stand outside the coup structure. This is somethingthat few of them will object to. It seems they are simply not regarded, on thewhole, as being suitable foes, or foes worthy enough to stand within the coupstructure. It is not that the red savages object to killing them. It is onlythat they do not take pride, commonly, in doing so.

Similarly a man of the high cities would not expect to be publicly rewarded forhaving speared a tarsk or slain an urt, Accordingly the red savage will seldomgo out of his way to slay a white person; he commonly sees little profit indoing so; in killing such a person, he is not entitled to count coup.

"The man, now," said Kog, "is not fifty feet from the mounted hunters. In thesoft snow he has descended the slope silently."

"Surely the dark guest, as we may call him, that crouching behind the kailiauk,has seen him."

"Of course," said Kog, "but he has given no sign."

"No sign," I said, "which was read by the mounted hunters.

"Yes," said Kog. His lips drew back, over his fangs. There are always signs. Itis only a question of their delectability. They are as small, sometimes, as thedilation of a pupil.

"The bow is drawn," said Kog.

The small bow has many advantages. High among these is the rapidity with whichit may be drawn and fired. A skilled warrior, in the Gorean gravity, can fireten arrows into the air, the last leaving the bow before the first has returnedto the earth. No Gorean weapon can match it in its rate of fire. At close rangeit can be devastating. Two further advantages of the small bow that might bementioned are its maneuverability and its capacity to be concealed, say beneatha robe. It can be easily swept from one side of the kaiila to the other. In thistype of combat, incidentally, it is not unusual for the warrior to shieldhimself behind the body of his racing kaiila, and, circling the enemy, rise up,suddenly, to fire over the animal's back or, sometimes, from beneath its neck: Aheel over the animal's back and a fist in its silken neck hair, or an arm thrustthrough a leather throat loop, provide the leverage needed for these feats.

To be sure, these folk are superb riders. A child is often put on kaiilaback,its tiny bands clutching the silken neck, before it can walk. Sometimes a strapdangles back for a few feet from the throat loop. This is to be seized by thewarrior who may have been struck from his mount, either to recapture the beastor, using the strap, being pulled along, with the momentum of the racing steed,to vault again to its back. This strap, incidentally, is used more often inhunting than in warfare. It could be too easily grasped by an enemy on foot,with the result of perhaps impeding the movement of the kaiila or even causingit to twist and fall. Needless to say, it is extremely dangerous to fall fromone's kaiila in hunting kailiauk, because one is often closely involved withnumerous stampeding beasts, or the given beast one is pursuing may suddenly turnon one.