A LIFE SO CHANGED
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Panic is setting in around the remaining
boats aft. The crowd here is now a mix of all three classes. Officers
repeatedly warn men back from the boats. The crowd presses in closer. A woman
falls off the ledge but clings onto the lifeboat. Men help her in at the open
space.
Seaman Scarott brandishes the tiller of boat
fourteen to discourage a close press of men who look ready to rush the boat.
Several men break ranks and rush forward.
"Keep order. Keep order here. Back. Keep
order," said Lightoller. He pulls out his Webley revolver and aims it at
them. "Get back, I say, or I’ll shoot you all like dogs! Keep order here.
Keep order I say!" He turns away from the crowd and, out of their sight,
breaks his pistol open. Letting out a long breath, he starts to load it.
"Mr. Lowe, man this boat."
"Right. Is everybody all right? Nobody
panic."
Cal, Parrish, and the rest arrive in time to
see Murdoch lowering his last boat.
"We're too late," said Cal.
"There are still some boats forward.
Stay with this one...Murdoch. He seems to be quite practical," said
Parrish, pointing at Murdoch.
A scream is heard over the side. Cal looks
down. Boat thirteen, already in the water but still attached to its falls, is
pushed aft by the discharge water being pumped out of the ship. It winds up
directly under boat fifteen, which is coming down right on top of it.
"Stop lowering! Stop lowering!"
said a passenger.
The passengers shout in panic to the crew
above to stop lowering. They are ignored. Some men put their hands up, trying
futilely to keep the five tons of boat fifteen from crushing them.
Fred Barrett, the stoker, gets out his knife
and leaps to the after falls, climbing rudely over people. He cuts the aft
falls while another crewman cuts the forward lines. Boat thirteen drifts out from
beneath Boat fifteen just seconds before it touches the water with a slap.
Cal, looking down from the rail, hears
gunshots. Fifth Officer Lowe, in Boat fourteen, is firing his gun as a warning
to a bunch of men threatening to jump into the boat as it passes the open
promenade on A-Deck. "Stay back you lot! Stay back! Just stay back a lot
of you!" BLAM! BLAM!
The shots echo away.
"It's starting to fall apart. We don't
have much time," said Cal. He sees three dogs run by, including the black
French bulldog. Someone has released the pets from the kennels.
He also sees Murdoch turn from the davits of
boat fifteen and start walking toward the bow. He and the rest catches up and
falls in beside him.
"Mr. Murdoch?"
"Mr. Black. You two with me now!"
To the crews.
"Mr. Murdoch, I'm a businessman, as you
know, and I have a business proposition for you."
Jack, Rose and the others burst out onto the
boat deck from the crew stairs just aft of the third funnel.
"Come on, Love," said Jack.
They look at the empty davits.
"The boats are gone!" said Rose.
She and Jack run to the side to see and then they turn to go to the other side.
She sees a man chugging forward along the deck, escorting two first class
ladies. "Sir, are there any boats on that side?"
The man is staring at her bedraggled state.
"No, Miss...but there are still a couple of boats all the way forward.
This way, I'll lead you."
Jack grabs her hand and they sprint past the
man, with Tommy and Fabrizio close behind.
The band ended the song they were playing.
"What’s the use? Nobody listens to us
anyway," said one of the players.
"Well, they don’t listen to us at dinner
either. Come on. Let’s play. Keep us warm. 'Obvious'," said Hartley.
Incredibly they are start playing again.
Jack, Rose and the others run by.
Oh, God! Please let me wake up from this
nightmare! Please!
"Music to drown by. Now I know I'm in
First Class," said Tommy to Fabrizio.
Water pours like a spillway over the forward
railing on B-Deck, and past A-Deck to the Boat Deck where Murdoch and his team
are loading Collapsible C to the forward-most davits.
"Where is everyone?" asked Murdoch
to crew member.
"They’re still aft, sir." Pointing
towards the stern.
The crowd is sparse, with most people still
aft. Cal slips his hand out of his pocket of his overcoat and into the waist
pocket of Murdoch's greatcoat, leaving couple of bills there.
"So we have an understanding then, Mr.
Murdoch?"
Murdoch stares mutely at Cal, then turns
away. Cal, satisfied, steps back. He finds himself and the others waiting next
to Ismay. Ismay does not meet Joshua’s eyes, nor anyone's. Cal also waits on
Lewis, who he sent to find Rose again.