The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1936-12-14

L bpIu WIZ A'' - .
DougalI followed as she STATED .
ward the SIC and warned the ch'
drcn back from the spot.
| Watch me. Miss Sellers. Ia
youth called. II must be- all right
] It's holding me up
81 do wish they'd leave this en-
! Of the pond" the teacher sand ap
! rebenS;ycIy to McDougall. Th
ice is safe at the other side. ioo'
at them, dancing around out ther'
..,..,. ~ "mn"y me-
I'm, she was a bit amused ever
rs she worried. and McDougal
{ could not help laughing ut th'
| youngsters antics -.
Miss Sellers SEATED into tn'
midts of the group and firmly
| started hcrdinG them to safer &c"
Au,hority at length began tt
tell The children were leaving
the suspected area, while MIS-
| Sellers rounded up two last rebels
! when there came the horrityinG
sound of a breaking ice sheet,
There was q stampede from the
spot. McDougall, in a quick sur
vey, saw the two StragglerS safe
bcyond the terrifying new hole ~
the ice. He was sure all the chil'
dren retreating in his direction
had escaped the spread OF teach
erous broken edges
But of Miss Sellers he saw no
sign.
He struck forward Immediately,
through the crowd: 49,,
Only a moment had passed, but
the suddenncSS Of the shock had
the effect of leaving most OF the
group suspended in a timelcss
space. go,
The frightened children were
watching Ralph Hanson. Jr., as IN
a slow motion film. creep toward
the edge of the hole.
McDougall sharply rallied them.
Commanding them farther back,
with one sweeping gesture. he
shouted for boards or ladder,
and then, sprawled on the ice,
moved toward the hole on the side
opposite Ralph.
The boy was now at the very
rim, needless Of the danger. Nc
Dougall saw him reaching into the
dark water-reaching futilely to-
ward other reaching hands.
And then he had vanished, with
further horrifying cracking Of the
brittle edge.
McDougall saw the two in the
water. clutching frantically at the
ice. striving for hold. and the
thin surface breaking, farther and
farther. and the expansc Of water
growing. ,
And in the next instant he had
dropped deliberately over the
edge.
Now the pool. which had seemed
so small from atop the ice, was
vast. but his fingers closed on
Miss Sellers arm and his own feet
churned for an impissoblc age
while nc fought to hold her up
for an eternity before be became
aware of a board thrust across the
ice.
He got one arm to the board,
and chung there a while, gather
ing strength for final effort. He
was horribly numb, and hampcrcd
by by water-heavy clothing, but,
with a convulsive thrust that left
him in agony, he pushed he shout
ders up to the edge and held her
there until someone, spread out on
the board, grasped her and was
pulled back by other hands.
II would have been no great cx-
ertion in warmer water to reach
then across the pool and haul the
boy over. but to McDougall. numb,
spent and fighting off a cloud, il
was the supreme cndeavor of a
lifetime.
Afterward he could not rcmem-
Der his desperate reaching, Ralph's
efforts to help in being helped,
and the hands that reached again
from the edge Of the ice and, aft
nr a little, pulled the boy from
The water.
Nor could he remember that
hen his own hands failed and he
fell back. Back and under the
ce, so that those on the surface
Ill but failed to bring him out in
lime. ..-.
There was a considerable period
when McDougall knew nothing o.
the world, and another period
when he dreamed awfully ana
talked wildly. :.
And much later he awakened in
n strange room and, though feel
ing very weak. was slowly aware
of things about him.
One of the things he noticed as
he gradually grew stronger and
looked around with more interest
was the view from the, window.
II was, he told himself mockingly,
a little tough. for fate 10 compel
a sick man TO look out on u dis
tant hilltop where he had once,
ages ago, built a dream.
Half an acre, half an acrc-half
an acre in Eden.
The view was still there when.
later. with pencil and sheet or
two Of paper discovered on his
bedside, he tired Of inaction and
in a purely practical mood, he
insisted--hc began a sketch.
And then :.
Hello" said Joan Bradford
r.. .Ln Ioo.,,.o,. Nynu'uo ba Il