TITANIC: A STORY TOLD
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Jack, Rose, and the others burst out onto the
boat deck from the crew stairs just aft of the third funnel. They looked at the
empty davits.
"The boats are gone!" Rose
exclaimed.
She saw Colonel Gracie chugging forward along
the deck, escorting two first class ladies.
"Colonel! Are there any boats
left?"
Gracie stared at her bedraggled state.
"Yes, miss...there are still a couple of boats all the way forward. This
way, I’ll lead you!"
Jack grabbed her hand and they sprinted past
Gracie, with Tommy and Fabrizio close behind.
Incredibly, the band was still playing. Jack,
Rose, and the others ran by.
"Music to drown by. Now I know I’m in
First Class," Tommy commented.
*****
Water poured like a spillway over the forward
railing on B Deck. Murdoch and his team were loading Collapsible C at the
forward-most davits.
There were four so-called collapsibles, or
Engelhardt boats, including two which were stored on the roof of the officers’
quarters.
The crowd there was sparse, with most people
still aft. Cal slipped his hand out of the pocket of his overcoat and into the
waist pocket of Murdoch’s greatcoat, leaving the stacks of bills there.
"So we have an understanding then?"
Murdoch nodded curtly. "As you’ve
said."
Cal, satisfied, stepped back. He found
himself waiting next to J. Bruce Ismay. Ismay did not meet his eyes, nor
anyone’s. Lovejoy came up to Cal at that moment.
"I’ve found her. She’s just over on the
port side. With him."
"Women and children? Any more women and
children?" Murdoch glanced at Cal. "Anyone else, then?"
Cal looked longingly at his boat...his moment
had arrived.
"God damn it to hell! Come on."
He and Lovejoy headed for the port side,
taking a shortcut through the bridge.
Bruce Ismay, seeing his opportunity, stepped
quickly into Collapsible C. He stared straight ahead, not meeting Murdoch’s
eyes.
Murdoch stared at Ismay. "Take them
down."
*****
On the port side Lightoller was getting
people into Boat Two. He kept his pistol in his hand at that point. Twenty feet
below them the sea was pouring into the doors and windows of B Deck staterooms.
They could hear the roar of water cascading into the ship.
"Women and children please. Women and
children only. Step back, sir."
Even with Jack’s arms wrapped around her,
Rose was shivering in the cold. Near her a woman with two young daughters
looked into the eyes of a husband she knew she might not see again.
"Good-bye for a little while...only for
a little while." He spoke to his two little girls. "Go with
mummy."
The woman stumbled to the boat with the
children, hiding her tears from them. Beneath the false good cheer, the man was
choked with emotion.
"Hold mummy’s hand and be a good girl.
That’s right."
Some of the women were stoic, others were
overwhelmed by emotion and had to be helped into the boats. A man scribbled a
note and handed it to a woman who was about to board.
"Please get this to my wife in Des
Moines, Iowa."
Jack looked at Tommy and Fabrizio.
"You better check the other side."
They nodded and ran off, searching for a way
around the deckhouse.
"I’m not going without you."
"Get in the boat, Rose."
Cal walked up just then.
"Yes. Get in the boat, Rose."
She was shocked to see him. She stepped
instinctively to Jack. Cal looked at her, standing there shivering in her wet
dress and shoes, a shocking display in 1912.
"My God, look at you." He took off
his coat. "Here, put this on."
he numbly shrugged into it. He was doing it
for modesty, not the cold.
"Quickly, ladies. Step into the boat.
Hurry, please!"
"Go on. I’ll get the next one."
"No. Not without you!"
She didn’t even care that Cal was standing
right there. He saw the emotion between Jack and Rose and his jaw clenched. But
then he leaned close to her and said, in a low voice, "Look, I have an
arrangement with an officer on the other side of the ship. Jack and I can get
off safely. Both of us."
Jack smiled reassuringly. "I’ll be all
right. Hurry up so we can get going...we got our own boat to catch."
"Get in...hurry up, it’s almost
full."
Lightoller grabbed her arm and pulled her
toward the boat. She reached out for Jack and her fingers brushed his for a
moment. Then she found herself stepping down into the boat. It was all a rush
and blur.
"Lower away!"
The two men watched at the rail as the boat
began to descend.
Cal spoke to Jack in a low voice.
"You’re a good liar."
"Almost as good as you."
"I always win, Jack. One way or
another." He looked at him, smiling.
Jack knew he was screwed. He looked down at
Rose, not wanting to waste a second of his last view of her.
Rose’s perception seemed to be in slow motion.
The ropes going through the pulleys as the seamen started to lower. All sound
going away...Lightoller giving orders...his lips moving...but Rose heard only
the blood pounding in her ears...this could not be happening...a rocket burst
above in slow motion, outlining Jack in a halo of light...Rose’s hair blowing
in slow motion as she gazed up at him, descending away from him...she saw his
hand trembling, the tears at the corners of his eyes, and could not believe the
unbearable pain she was feeling.
Rose was still staring up, tears pouring down
her face.
Suddenly she was moving. She lunged across
the woman next to her. Reached the gunwale, climbing it...hurled herself out of
the boat to the rail of the A Deck promenade, catching it, and scrambling over
the rail. Boat Two continued down. But Rose was back on Titanic.
"No Rose! No!"
Jack spun from the rail, running for the
nearest way down to A Deck.
Hockley too had seen her jump. She was
willing to die for this man, this gutter scum. He was overwhelmed by a rage so
all consuming it eclipsed all thought.
*****
Jack banged through the doors to the foyer
and sprinted down the stairs. He saw her coming into the A Deck foyer, running
toward him, Cal’s long coat flying out behind her as she ran.
They met at the bottom of the stairs, and
collided in an embrace.
"Rose, Rose, you’re so stupid, you’re
such an idiot--"
And all the while has was kissing her and
holding her as tightly as he could.
"You jump, I jump, right?"
"Right."
Hockley came in and ran to the railing. Looking
down he saw them locked in their embrace. Lovejoy came up behind Cal and put a
restraining hand on him, but Cal whipped around, grabbing the pistol from
Lovejoy’s waistband in one cobra-fast move.
He ran along the rail and down the stairs. As
he reached the landing above them he raised the gun. Screaming in rage, he
fired.
The carved cherub at the foot of the center
railing exploded. Jack pulled Rose toward the stairs going down to the next
deck. Cal fired again, running down the steps toward them. A bullet blew a
divet out of the oak paneling behind Jack’s head as he pulled Rose down the
next flight of stairs.
Hockley stepped on the skittering head of the
cherub statue and went sprawling. The gun clattered across the marble floor. He
got up, and reeling drunkenly went over to retrieve it.
*****
The bottom of the grand staircase was flooded
several feet deep. Jack and Rose came down the stairs two at a time and ran
straight into the water, fording across the room to where the floor sloped up,
until they reached dry footing at the entrance to the dining saloon.
Hockley reeled down the stairs in time to see
Jack and Rose splashing through the water toward the dining saloon. He fired
twice. Big gouts of spray near them, but he was not a great shot.
The water boiled up around his feet and he
retreated up the stairs a couple of steps. Around him the woodwork groaned and
creaked.
Cal called to them. "Enjoy your time
together!"
Lovejoy arrived next to him. Cal suddenly
remembered something and started to laugh.
"What could possibly be funny?"
"I put the diamond in my coat pocket.
And I put my coat...on her."
He turned to Lovejoy with a sickly
expression, his eyes glittering.
"I give it to you...if you can get
it."
He handed Lovejoy the pistol and went back up
the stairs. Lovejoy thought about it...then slogged into the water. The ice
water was up to his waist as he crossed the pool to the dining saloon.