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 Hoggs saw one boat after another launched.  She also saw one boat after another capsize under the weight of those who hurled themselves down into them.

The lifeboats near to hers were .lowered, but for some unaccountable reason no one had touched the one in which she was seated.  “Thank God they are leaving my boat alone till the worst is over,” she thought.

And Miss Hoggs heard and saw dreadful things.  It seemed to her that she was suspended over a hell.  She could not see the deck itself, but from the sounds that reached her, she gathered that a frightful struggle was taking place there.  She heard pistol shots and saw blue smoke clouds rise in the air.

At last there came a moment when everything was hushed.  “This would be the right time to lower my boat,” thought Miss Hoggs.  She was not at all afraid, but sat back with perfect composure until the steamer began to settle.  Then, for the first time, it dawned on Miss Hoggs that L’Univers was sinking, and that her boat had been forgotten.

***

On board the steamer was a young American matron, a Mrs. Gordon, who was on her way to Europe to visit her parents, who for some years had been living in Paris.  She had her two little boys with her, and all three were asleep in their cabin when the accident occurred.  The mother was immediately awakened, and soon managed to get the children partly dressed; then throwing a cloak over her night robe, she went out into the narrow passageway between the cabins.