The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-03-26
LF-ACRE y.s
 m EDEN n BY ROBERT DICKSON

the suspected area, while Miss sel- lers rounded up two last rebels, when there came the horrifying sound of breaking ice sheet.
 There was a stampede from the spot. McDougall, in a quick sur- vey, saw the two stragglers safe beyond the terrifying new hole in the ice. He was sure all the chil- dren retreating in his direction has escaped the spread of treach- eraus broken edges.
 But of Miss Sellers he saw no sign.
 He struck forward immediately, through the crowd.
 Only moment had passed, but the suddenness of the shock had the effect of leaving most of the group suspended in timeless space.
 The frightened children were watching Ralph Hanson, Jr. as in 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 a ladder and then, sprawled on the ice moved toward the hole on the side opposite Ralph.
 The boy was not at the very rim, needless of the danger. Me Dougall saw him reaching into the dark water reaching futily 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 a hold, and the thin surface breaking, farther and farther, and the expanse 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 Selers arm and his own feet churned for an impossible age while he fought to hold her up - for an eternity before he became aware of a broad thrust across the ice.
 He got one arm to the board, and clung there 8 while, gather ing strength for final effort. He was horribly numb, and hamp- cred by water-heavy clothing, but, with convulsive thrust that left him In agony, he pushed her shoul- 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.
 It would have been no great ex- 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, 1t was the supreme endeavor of a lifetime.
 Afterward he could not remem- 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, after little, pulled the boy from the water.
 Nor could he remember that then his own hands failed and he fell back. Back and under the ice, so that those on the surface all but failed to bring him out in time.
 There was a considerable period when McDougall knew nothing of the world, and another period when he dreamed awfully and talked wild ly.
 And much later he awakened in strange room and, though feeling 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 It was, he told himself mockingly little tough for fate to compel a sick man to look out on a dis tant hilltop where he had once, ages ago, built dream.
 Half an acre, half an acre - hall an acre in Eden!
 The view was still there when, later, with a pencil and sheet or two of paper discovered on his bedside table, he tired of inaction, and = in a purely practical mood, he insisted - he began sketch.
 And then
 
 Hello said Joan Bradford from the dorway. You've had us scared to death or is that the proper thing to say in sick room?"
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