oot; remain stationary again, and drop another foot--a
circumstance ominous to experienced minds, suggesting that some of the
smaller compartments forward were one by one being flooded, and letting
the water farther and farther into her hull.

Therefore at about twenty-five minutes past midnight the Captain gave
orders for the passengers to be called and mustered on the boat deck.
All the ship's crew had by this time been summoned to their various
stations; and now through all the carpeted corridors, through the
companion-ways and up and down staircases, leading to the steerage
cabins, an army of three hundred stewards was hurrying, knocking loudly
on doors, and shouting up and down the passages, "All passengers on
deck with life-belts on!" The summons came to many in their sleep; and
to some in the curtained firelight luxury of their deck state-rooms it
seemed an order so absurd that they scorned it, and actually went back
to bed again. These, however, were rare exceptions; for most people
there was no mistaking the urgency of the command, even though they were
slow to understand the necessity for it. And hurry is a thing easily
communicated; seeing some passengers hastening out with nothing over
their night clothes but a blanket or a wrapper, others caught the
infection, and hurried too; and struggling with life-belts, clumsily
attempting to adjust them over and under a curious assortment of
garments, the passengers of the _Titanic_ came crowding up on deck, for
the first time fully alarmed.

X

When the people came on deck it was half-past twelve. The first-class
passengers came pouring up the two main staircases and out on to the
boat deck--some of them indignant, many of them curious, some few of them
alarmed. They found there everything as usual except that the long deck
was not quite level; it tilted downwards a little towards the bow, and
there was a slight list towards the starboard side. The stars were
shining in the sky and the sea was perfectly smooth, although dotted
about it here and there were lumps of dark-coloured ice, almost
invisible against the background of smooth water. A long line of
stewards was forming up beside the boats on either side--those solid
white boats, stretching far aft in two long lines, that became suddenly
invested with practical interest. Officers were shouting orders, seamen
were busy clearing up the coils of rope attached to the davit tackles,
fitting the iron handles