Stewards, half dressed, came running out from
their quarters to go down and waken the passengers and get them on
deck. An old sailor came up with an armful of life belts, which he
tossed on the deck. A little cabin boy in his shirt was crouching
in a corner, sobbing and shrieking that he was going to die. The
captain was on his bridge, and Miss Hoggs heard him give orders to
stop the engines and to man the lifeboats.

Engineers and stokers came rushing up the grimy ladder leading from
the engine room, shouting that the water had already reached the
fires. Miss Hoggs had hardly been on deck a moment before it was
thronged with steerage passengers, who had come up in a body,
shrieking that they would have to hurry and make for the boats,
otherwise none but the first and second class passengers would be
saved.

As the excitement and confusion increased, Miss Hoggs began to
realize that they were in actual danger; so she quietly slipped
away to the upper deck, where several life-boats hung in their
davits, just outside the railing. Up here there was not a soul, and
Miss Hoggs, without being seen, climbed over the railing and
scrambled into one of the boats suspended above the watery abyss.
As soon as she was well inside, she congratulated herself upon her
wisdom and foresight. That was the advantage of having a clear and
cool head, she thought. She knew that when once the boat was
lowered there would be a wild scramble for it; the crush in the
gangway and on the companion ladder would be something awful. Again
and again she congratulated herself on having thought of getting
into the boat beforehand.

Miss Hoggs's boat was hung far aft, but by leaning over the edge of
it she could see the companion ladder. Then she saw that a boat had
been manned, and that people were getting into it. Suddenly a
terrible cry went up. Some one in the excitement had fallen
overboard. This must have frightened the others, for cries arose
from all sides of the ship, and the passengers heedlessly crowded
the gangway, pushing and fighting their way toward the ladder. In
the struggle many of them went overboard. A few persons, who saw
that it would be impossible to get to the ladder, jumped into the
sea, thinking they would swim to the boat. Just then the lifeboat,
already loaded to its full capacity, rowed away. The people that
were in it drew their knives and threatened to cut of the fingers
of any one who attempted to get inside.

Miss Ho