This was a bit of philosophy which sounded curiously to the boys, and the Professor, noticing it, said: "Singularly, this is the same answer which Sir Samuel Baker obtained from certain African tribes, when he questioned them in like manner."
But the Professor was interested in Suros' statement that they would not permit the body of the honored dead to go back to the earth, and he continued:
"You said that you did not want the honored dead to go back to the earth. When you give his body to the air, does it not go back to the earth?"
"No; the earth and the air are entirely different, The Great Spirit is in the air; not in the earth."
"Then you give him to the Great Spirit?"
"Yes; the Great Spirit takes his body."
"Don't you believe that man has a spirit also?"
"No; because we have never seen it."
"But you have never seen the Great Spirit, and yet you say there is one."