"Only the hardiest of constitutions could endure for more
than a few moments such a numbing bath. The first vigor-
ous strokes gave way to heart-breaking cries of `Help! Help!'
and stiffened forms were seen floating on the water all
around us.
"Led by the green light, under the light of the stars, the
boats drew away, and the bow, then the quarter, then the
stacks and at last the stern of the marvel-ship of a few days
before, passed beneath the waters. The great force of the
ship's sinking was unaided by any violence of the elements,
and the suction, not so great as had been feared, rocked but
mildly the group of boats now a quarter of a mile distant
from it.
"Early dawn brought no ship, but not long after 5 A. M.
the Carpathia, far out of her path and making eighteen knots,
instead of her wonted fifteen, showed her single red and black
smokestack upon the horizon. In the joy of that moment,
the heaviest griefs were forgotten.
"Soon afterward Captain Rostron and Chief Steward
Hughes were welcoming the chilled and bedraggled arrivals
over the Carpathia's side.
"Terrible as were the San Francisco, Slocum and Iroquois
disasters, they shrink to local events in comparison with this
world-catastrophe.
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