The Fourth Step: Survival of the Noblest

The Professor divided the expedition into four missions. Each mission was designated by a color of the rainbow. The first mission was green, second blue, third yellow, and the fourth red. And, it’s the red area that concerned Drummer—it’s the Devil’s Garden.

However, Bull had been to the green area before. It’s the Mato Grasso region of Brazil. And, that’s where Colonel Percy Fawcett wrote his last letter to his wife. The letter had been mailed from a place called Dead Horse Camp. And, the letter told of some Indians who knew about a mysterious city by a lake. The Colonel referred to the city as “Z” and said he intended to investigate the rumor.

That’s the last time anyone heard from him. Yet, the letter didn’t mention where the lost city of Z was supposed to be. However, the legendary city of El Dorado had been mentioned. But, that legend placed it somewhere in Colombia.

Still, the Professor had a hunch that Colonel Fawcett might have traveled towards Colombia looking for El Dorado. That would explain why they never found him. No one thought to look that far from his starting ground.

Although thoroughly explored, the Professor felt that the Mato Grasso region needed to be eliminated as a possibility. As Sherlock Holmes might say: List all possibilities, than eliminate them one by one. And, even though he looked like Dr. Watson, he solved problems like Sherlock Holmes. While preparing this expedition, he’d solved many three pipe problems. Now, he wanted to put the Amazon under his radar magnifying glass.

To Bull it seemed a waste of time. Still, if the Professor wanted to waste his money that was his business. However, after the blimp started on its way, Helen announced another reason for going that way.

“Before going to the Dead Horse Camp,” she said, “we’ll fly over the Nazca Desert. I need to take some navigational reading over that area.”

“The Nazca Desert!” exclaimed Bull, “that’s in Peru. That’s out of our way. And, there’s nothing there but some strange images drawn in the dirt.”

Helen responded with a question, “What makes those images so strange?”

Bull shrugged his shoulders. So Helen replied, “Those images are strange because they can only be seen from the air. And, when they were made, there were no airplanes or blimps.”

“I guess,” intruded Drummer, “you think you can figure out how they did it.”

“I have a theory about why they were made.”