Savages of Gor by John Norman Read Free Book Online Page A

being fully aware of what was transpiring, saw it. He then incorporated, it into his dream, comprehending it within his own conceptual framework."
    "That is an interesting idea," I said.
    "But it is surely improbable that the paths of the man and the helper should cross in the vast, trackless wastes of the snowbound Barrens," said Samos.
    "Not if both were following the kailiauk," said Kog.
    "Why would the helper not have eaten the man?" I asked.
    "Perhaps," said Kog, "because it was bunting the kailiauk, not the man. Perhaps because if it killed a man, it was apprehensive that other men would follow it, to kill it in turn."
    "I see," I said.
    "Also," said Kog, "kailiauk is better than man I know. I have eaten both."
    "I see," I said.
    "If the helper had visited the man," said Samos, "Would there not have been prints in the snow?"
    "Doubtless," said Kog.
    "Were there prints?" asked Samos.
    "No," said Kog.
    "Then it was all a dream," said Samos.
    "Me absence of prints would be taken by the man as evidence that the helper came from the medicine world," said Kog.
    "Naturally " said Samos.
    "Accordingly the man would not look for them," said Kog.
    "It is your hypothesis, however," conjectured Samos, "that such prints existed."
    "Of course," said Kog, "which then, in the vicinity of the camp, were dusted away."
    "From the point of view of the man, then," said Samos, "the dark guest would have come and gone with all the silence and mystery of a guest from the medicine world."
    "Yes," said Kog.
    "Interesting," said Samos.
    "What is perfectly clear," said Kog, "is how the man viewed the situation, whether he was correct or not. Similarly clear, and undeniably so, are the events of the next day. These are unmistakably and unambiguously delineated." Kog then, with his dexterous, six- jointed, long digits, rotated the skin a quarter of a turn, continuing the story.
    "In the morning," said Kog, "the man, inspired by his dream, resumed his hunt. A snow began to fall." I noted the dots between the flat plane of the earth and the semicircle of the sky. "The tracks, with the snow, and the wind, became obscured. Still the man pressed on, knowing the direction of the kailiauk and following the natural geodesics of the land, such as might be followed by a slow-moving beast, pawing under the snow for roots or grass. He did not fear to lose the trail. Because of his dream he was undaunted. On snowshoes, of course, he could move faster through drifted snow than the kailiauk. Indeed, over long distances, in such snow, he could match the speed of the wading kaiila. Too, as you know, the kailiauk seldom moves at night."
    The kailiauk in question, incidentally, is the kailiauk of the Barrens. It is a gigantic, dangerous beast, often standing from twenty to twenty- five hands at the shoulder and weighing as much as four thousand pounds. It is almost never hunted on foot except in deep snow, in which it is almost helpless. From kaiilaback, riding beside the stampeded animal, however, the skilled hunter can kill one with a- single arrow. He rides close to the animal, not a yard from its side, just outside the hooking range of the trident, to supplement the striking power of his small bow. At this range the arrow can sink in to the feathers. Ideally it strikes into the intestinal cavity behind the last rib, producing large-scale internal hemorrhaging he closely behind the left shoulder blade, thence piercing the eight-valved heart.
    The hunting arrow, incidentally, has a long, tapering point, and this point is firmly fastened to the shaft. This makes it easier to withdraw the arrow from its target. The war arrow, on the other hand, uses an arrowhead whose base, is either angled backwards, forming barbs, or cut straight across, the result in both cases being to make the arrow difficult to extract from a wound. The head of the war arrow, too, is fastened less securely to the shaft than is that of the hunting arrow. The point thus, by intent, if the shaft is