cause he admired the boys.

"Lolo will like to work in the shop with you. He can now make the best
bows in the tribe, and he makes fine arrows." And Lolo exhibited some of
his handiwork, which, from the standpoint of the native weapons, was
really creditable.

Returning now to Unity, we shall have to relate some very singular
thing's which should be mentioned, as it shows the peculiar beliefs and
practices of the natives.

On the day the force left the village occurred the first death in Unity.
This was one of the warriors, who had been wounded during the last
fight with the Tuolos and Illyas, and he had lingered along until he
finally succumbed. He was one of the best men, and was mourned by the
Osagas, of which he was a member.

[Illustration: _Fig. 13. Ready for the Happy Hunting Grounds._]

Singularly, another of the same tribe died the following morning, who
was the exact opposite of the warrior. Within six hours of the death of
the latter his friends carried him away, and he was buried. The warrior,
however, was not buried, but, instead, his body was carried to an open
place, fully a half mile beyond the town, and placed on a hanging cot
suspended from two trees.

The boys witnessed the ceremonies, and could not understand the meaning
of it.

"Why do they bury one so soon after death, and keep the other for
several days, and then suspend his body in the air?" asked Tom.

The Professor, who attended both ceremonies, responded: "This action on
their part has a great significance. In most savage countries there is
no more noble thing than to die on the battlefield. Usually those who
die in that way are not accorded a burial, generally, because, in case
such a warrior belongs to a defeated party, his friends do not have the
opportunity to inter the body.

"Sir Samuel Baker, in his book, 'The Explorations on the White Nile,'
relates an incident where he came to a village which had two graveyards,
on opposite sides of the road. On one side were the scattered bones of
the dead, and on the other side mounds to indicate burial plots.

"On questioning the chief, he said: 'Yes; our honored dead have their
bones exposed, as you see, but those who were of no use are put out of
sight underground.'

"So the object seemed to be to keep them where the people could see
them?"

"That appears to be the reason the chief gave to Baker. But there may be
another reason for this custom, and I shall get Suros' views on that