ational call for help, just that," said the
Captain, and was gone again.

But in five minutes he came back into the wireless room, this time
apparently not in such a hurry. "What call are you sending?" he asked;
and when Phillips told him "C.Q.D.," the highly technical and efficient
Bride suggested, laughingly, that he should send "S.O.S.," the new
international call for assistance which has superseded the C.Q.D. "It is
the new call," said Bride, "and it may be your last chance to send it!"
And they all three laughed, and then for a moment chatted about what had
happened, while Phillips tapped out the three longs, three shorts, and
three longs which instantaneously sent a message of appeal flashing out
far and wide into the dark night. The Captain, who did not seem
seriously worried or concerned, told them that the ship had been struck
amidships or a little aft of that.

Whatever may have been happening down below, everything up here was
quiet and matter-of-fact. It was a disaster, of course, but everything
was working well, everything had been done; the electric switches for
operating the bulkhead doors had been used promptly, and had worked
beautifully; the powerful wireless plant was talking to the ocean, and
in a few hours there would be some other ship alongside of them. It was
rough luck, to be sure; they had not thought they would so soon have a
chance of proving that the _Titanic_ was unsinkable.

IX

We must now visit in imagination some other parts of the ship, parts
isolated from the bridge and the spacious temple of luxury amidships,
and try to understand how the events of this half hour appeared to the
denizens of the lower quarters of the ship. The impact that had been
scarcely noticed in the first-class quarters had had much more effect
down below, and especially forward, where some of the third-class
passengers and some of the crew were berthed. A ripping, grinding crash
startled all but the heaviest sleepers here into wakefulness; but it was
over so soon and was succeeded by so peaceful a silence that no doubt
any momentary panic it might have caused was soon allayed. One of the
firemen describing it said: "I was awakened by a noise, and between
sleeping and waking I thought I was dreaming that I was on a train that
had run off the lines, and that I was being jolted about." He jumped out
and went on deck, where he saw the scattered ice lying about. "Oh, we
have struck an iceberg," he said, "