ertain tribes, as the Pawnees, Cheyennes, and others, it
was not very uncommon for a warrior to dash up to an enemy and strike him
before making any attempt to injure him, the effort to kill being secondary
to the _coup_. The blow might be struck with anything held in the hand,--a
whip, coupstick, club, lance, the muzzle of a gun, a bow, or what not. It
did not necessarily follow that the person on whom the _coup_ had been
counted would be injured. The act was performed in the case of a woman, who
might be captured, or even on a child, who was being made prisoner.

Often the dealing the _coup_ showed a very high degree of courage. As
already implied, it might be counted on a man who was defending himself
most desperately, and was trying his best to kill the approaching enemy,
or, even if the attempt was being made on a foe who had fallen, it was
never certain that he was beyond the power of inflicting injury. He might
be only wounded, and, just when the enemy had come close to him, and was
about to strike, he might have strength enough left to raise himself up and
shoot him dead. In their old wars, the Indians rarely took men
captive. The warrior never expected quarter nor gave it, and usually men
fought to the death, and died mute, defending themselves to the last--to
the last, striving to inflict some injury on the enemy.

The striking the blow was an important event in a man's life, and he who
performed this feat remembered it. He counted it. It was a proud day for
the young warrior when he counted his first _coup_, and each subsequent one
was remembered and numbered in the warrior's mind, just as an American of
to-day remembers the number of times he has been elected to Congress. At
certain dances and religious ceremonies, like that of the Medicine Lodge,
the warriors counted--or rather re-counted--their _coups_.

While the _coup_ was primarily, and usually, a blow with something held in
the hand, other acts in warfare which involved great danger to him who
performed them were also reckoned _coups_ by some tribes. Thus, for a
horseman to ride over and knock down an enemy, who was on foot, was
regarded among the Blackfeet as a _coup_, for the horseman might be shot at
close quarters, or might receive a lance thrust. It was the same to ride
one's horse violently against a mounted foe. An old Pawnee told me of a
_coup_ that he had counted by running up to a fallen enemy and jumping on
him with both feet. Sometimes the