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. Dyott hired threesecretaries to help him sift through the applications.The Independent, an Americanweekly newspaper, marveled, Perhaps if there were a su cient number of junglesavailable and enough expeditions to go round, we would see the spectacle of ourwhole population marching o in search of lost explorers, ancient civilizations, andsomething which it vaguely felt was missing in its life. Nina told the RGS that theoutpouring was a great compliment to the enduring reputation of ColonelFawcett.One of those who applied to join the expedition was Roger Rimell,Raleigh's brother, who was now thirty years old. I am most anxious naturally, he informed Dyott, and do consider I am as entitled to go as much as anyone. ElsieRimell was so desperate to nd Raleigh that she consented, saying, I know of nogreater help I can give them than to offer the services of my one remaining son. Dyott, however, not wanting to take someone with so little experience, politelydeclined.Several adventurous ladies also applied, but Dyott said, I can't take awoman. In the end, he chose four hardened out-doorsmen who could operate awireless radio and a movie camera in the jungle.Dyott had strictly enforced a ban on married men, insisting that they wereaccustomed to creature comforts and always thinking about their wives. But,on the eve of the party's departure from New York, he violated his own edict and married a woman nearly half his age, Persis Stevens Wright, whom the newspapersportrayed as a Long Island society girl. The couple planned to honeymoon duringthe expedition's voyage to Rio.New York City's mayor, Jimmy Walker, who cameto bid the expedition farewell, told Dyott that his bride's consent to his risking hislife in order to save the lives of others was a display of unsel sh courage of whichthe whole nation should be proud. On February 18, 1928, in the midst of a blizzard, Dyott and his party drove to thesame piers in Hoboken, New Jersey, where Fawcett had departed with Jack andRaleigh three years earlier.Dyott's group was preparing to board the SS Voltairewhen an anxious middle-aged woman appeared, bundled against the storm.It wasElsie Rimell.She had own from California to meet with Dyott, whose expedition,she said, lls me with new hope and courage. She handed him a small package apresent for her son Raleigh.During the voyage to Brazil, the ship's crew dubbed the explorers the Knights ofthe Round Table. A banquet was held in their honor, and special menus wereprinted that listed each of the explorers by nicknames, such as King Arthur and Sir Galahad. The ship's purser declared, On behalf of your noble band of knightsallow me to wish you Cheerio, good luck and Godspeed. After the Voltaire reached Rio, Dyott bade his wife farewell and headed with hismen to the frontier.There he recruited a small army of Brazilian helpers and Indianguides, and the party soon grew to twenty-six members and required seventy-fouroxen and mules to transport more than three tons of food and gear.A reporter laterdescribed the party as a Cecil B.DeMille safari. Brazilians began to refer to it asthe suicide club. In June, the expedition arrived at Bakairí Post, where a group of Kayapós hadrecently attacked and killed several inhabitants.(Dyott described the outpost as thedregs of civilization mixing with the scum of the wilds. ) While camping there,Dyott made what he considered a breakthrough: he met an Indian namedBernardino, who said that he had served as Fawcett's guide down the KurisevoRiver, one of the headwaters of the Xingu.In exchange for gifts, Bernardino agreedto lead Dyott as far as he had taken Fawcett's party, and, shortly after they departed,Dyott spotted Y-shaped marks carved into the trunks of trees a possible sign ofFawcett's former presence. Fawcett's trail loomed largely before us and, like a packof hounds on the scent, we were in full cry, Dyott wrote.At night, Dyott sent his dispatches over the radio, and they were often passed onto NANA by the Radio Relay League, a network of amateur operators in the UnitedStates.Each new item was trumpeted in international bulletins: Dyott Nearing Jungle Ordeal; Dyott Picks Up Fawcett Trail; Dyott Finds New Clew. John J
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