— An unexpected return — Unfortunate losses — Descent into darknessSteele was quick to agree with my suggestion, especially after Chambers concurred with my conclusions. The buffalo-shaped outcropping had to be a channel for etheric force, directing and giving shape to the ley line — and it was clear from its reddish hue that the rock contained a large amount of iron.Iron, I concluded, must be the key element that enabled stones to channel etheric force. For my proof I only had to point to the CPR tracks, which were interacting with the ley line in so dramatic a fashion as to seriously deform its spiral shape. I reasoned that the Manitou Stone must also contain significant amounts of this metal. Iron was something the aerograph was naturally attracted to, and so the aerograph would home in on the Manitou Stone as well.All that was required was for the aerograph to be calibrated to negate both the rocky outcropping here at the ford and the railway line to the south. If the aerograph could be made to confine itself to the blank spot at the centre of the spiral I’d drawn on Steele’s map, it would lead our patrol to the Manitou Stone.
