O'Connell and two assistants climbed on
board. Again the newspaper men asked for some word of
the catastrophe to the Titanic, but there was no answer,
and the Carpathia continued toward her pier.
As she passed the revenue cutter Mohawk and the derelict
destroyer Seneca anchored off Tompkinsville the wireless on
the Government vessels was seen to flash, but there was no
answering spark from the Carpathia. Entering the North
River she laid her course close to the New Jersey side in
order to have room to swing into her pier.
By this time the rails were lined with men and women.
They were very silent. There were a few requests for news
from those on board and a few answers to questions shouted
from the tugs.
The liner began to slacken her speed, and the tugboat soon
was alongside. Up above the inky blackness of the hull
figures could be made out, leaning over the port railing, as
though peering eagerly at the little craft which was bearing
down on the Carpathia.
Some of them, perhaps, had passed through that inferno
of the deep sea which sprang up to destroy the mightiest
steamship afloat.
"Carpathia, ahoy!" was shouted through a megaphone.
There was an interval of a few seconds, and then, "Aye,
aye," came the reply.
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