"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 thismanner tribal warfare may be seen as an example of intraspecific aggression,with its attendant consequences in decentralizing and refining diversepopulations. Too, if one regards these things as of any interest, the countingof coup and intertribal warfare lends color, excitement and zest to the lives ofthe red savages. They live in a world in which danger is not unknown. Surelythey could live otherwise, but they have not chosen to do so. They live with thestars and the, winds, and the kaiila and kailiauk. They have not chosen torevere the fat-bellied, beer-drinking gods of more sedentary peoples. Too, ofcourse, it should he noted that the counting of coup tends, statistically, toensure that it is the stronger and healthier, the more alert, the moreintelligent and sharper-sensed who will repro- duce themselves. This is inmarked contrast to certain societies where it is the healthiest and finest whoare sent off to war while the inferior and defective remain behind in safety,making money and multiplying themselves.
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.
In hunting kailiauk the hunters usually scatter about, each selecting his ownanimals. Accordingly, one's fellows are seldom close at hand to rescue one. Thisis quite different from mounted warfare, where one's fellows are usually quiteclose and ready, in an instant, to sweep one up or help one to regain one'smount. The red savage does not take an industrial or arithmetical approach towarfare. He would rather rescue one comrade than slay ten of the enemy. This hasto do with the fact that they are members of the same tribe and, usually, of thesame warrior society. They will have known one another almost all of theirlives; as children and boys they have played together and watched the kaiilaherds in the summer camps together; they may even have shared in their firstkailliauk hunt; now, as men, they have taken the warpath together; they arecomrades, and friends; each is more precious to the other than even a thousandcoups.
This explains some of the eccentricities of tribal warfare; first actual warparties, though common, are formed less often than parties for stealing kaiila;in this sport the object is to obtain as many kaiila as possible without, ifpossible, engaging the enemy at all; it is a splendid coup, for example, to cuta kaiila tether strap which is tied to the wrist of a sleeping enemy and makeoff with the animal before he awakens; killing a sleeping enemy is only a minorcoup; besides, if he has been killed, how can he understand how cleverly he hasbeen bested; imagine his anger and chagrin when he awakens; is that not moreprecious to the thief than his scalp; in actual warfare itself large-scaleconflicts almost never occur. The typical act of war is the raid, conductedusually by a small group of men, some ten to fifteen in number, which entersenemy country, strikes, usually at dawn, and makes away, almost at soon as itcame, with scalps and loot, sometimes, too, a woman or two of the enemy istaken; men of most tribes are fond of owning a woman of the enemy; maleprisoners are seldom taken; because of their camaraderie and the sporting aspectof their warfare a group of red savages will usually refuse to follow even asingle enemy into rock or brush cover; it is simply too dangerous to do so;similarly the red savages will almost never engage in a standing fight if theyare outnumbered; often, too, they will turn their backs on even an obviousvictory if the costs of grasping it seem too high; sometimes, too, a largenumber of red savages will retreat before an unexpected attack of a small numberof enemies; they prefer to fight on their own terms and at times of their ownchoosing; too, they may not have had time to make their war medicine.