He tossed the post to his desk. Two responses. He strode to the window, folding his arms across his chest as he looked down on the crowded London street. He was pensive, disappointed. Two responses, both women. One wasn’t even English. Two responses. A Russian Princess! He clenched his fist together hard. Arrangements had been made for the voyage to Rio de Janeiro, but women were too soft for the journey, too delicate. Still the pressure remained for the existence of the Lost World to be proven. His funds were meager, almost certainly too meager to make the journey suitable for women. Two bloody responses. Two bloody women. He thought about why he was doing this, for whom he was doing this, and returned to his desk with new resolve and wet his pen.<br/><br/><em>Dear Colleague,<br/><br/>It is with great esteem that I can convey that you have been chosen to join my expedition deep into the jungles of the Amazon. Great fortunes and discoveries surely await us there. In order to meet the demands of the journey, I recommend bringing along kit and provisions for three months not to exceed five hundred pounds. Your intricate or expensive scientific equipment should be insured for loss, which can be obtained easily and cheaply in England. Please present yourself to my office in Coenti’s Slip, Portsmouth, Hampshire on or about the twenty-third of this month. It is with great pleasure that I welcome you in joining this pioneering expedition that will bring more new knowledge to science than any single event yet in our history. You name will live on in posterity for generations to come, and the scientific community will be forever in your debt. <br/><br/>Lord Ian Allenby<br/>London</em>