Four Winds Times Four

At 7:15 the morning of October 28, New Zealand fisherman Gus Hutt was on the beach checking his lines. He saw what looked like a large doll with a porcelain face floating in the surf, and he reached out and grabbed its arm. When the “doll” let out a little squeak, Gus nearly lost his grip. Eighteen-month-old Malachi Reeve had been staying with his family at a campground on Matata Beach. While his parents slept in, Malachi unzipped the tent and headed straight for the water. He’d floated about 50 feet before he was fished out. “If I hadn’t been there or if I’d just been a minute later I wouldn’t have seen him,” said Gus. Little Malachi was taken to a nearby hospital to be checked out, then his parents brought him to visit his rescuer. “He was wriggling, trying to get down to have a look at everything. He was just a lovely, cheeky little fella.”