THIN ICE 



splash, and I had almost skated into a 

 hole in the ice, perhaps some ten feet 

 across. 



Then I knew what had happened. A 

 loon, wing-tipped by some poor marks- 

 man, had dropped into the pond before 

 the freeze. He could dive and swim, no 

 doubt, as well as ever but could not leave 

 the water. When the pond began to 

 freeze he did the only thing possible in 

 his losing fight. That was to seek the 

 loneliest spot in the surface and keep an 

 opening in the ice when it began to form. 

 I could see the fifteen-foot circle which 

 had been his haven for the first night 

 and day. Then with the second freezing 

 night he had been obliged to shorten this. 

 Two feet and a half of new ice showed 

 his inner line of defence rimmed accur- 

 ately within the greater circle and show- 

 ing much splashing where he had, I 

 59 



