04 Put on Your Life Belts!

Chapter 04 Put on Your Life Belts! Jack and Annie slipped through a door off the boat deck. Teddy was at their heels. “ Wow, ” breathed Annie. “ Arf! Arf! ” Teddy barked. They were at the top of the empty grand stairway. It was beautiful. It was made of dark, glossy wood. A huge dome with lights hung above it. At the top of the stairs was a fancy clock. The hands of the clock were at 12: 20.

“ Oh, man, it’s twenty minutes after midnight! ” said Jack. “ The ship’s going down in two hours! ” They hurried down the carpeted steps and into the first-class hallway. Teddy followed along. Jack looked at the map in the book. “ These are the staterooms, ” he said. “ This hall will take us to the thirdclass open deck. ” “ Hey, look, ” said Annie. “ The floor’s slanting down. ” Jack caught his breath. She was right. “ That means the front of the ship is already sinking, ” he said. Just then, a man in a white uniform came down the hall. He knocked on the doors. “ Put on your life belts at once and come up to the boat deck! ” he called.

Men and women stumbled out of their rooms. They wore elegant robes made of shiny cloth and velvet. “ What’s going on?” a woman asked. “ There’s been a little accident, ” the man in the uniform said cheerfully. “ Oh, how silly, ” said the woman. “ It’s not silly! ” said Annie. “ Do what he says! ” “ Arf! Arf! ” Teddy barked, as if he agreed with Annie. “ Shhh, Teddy! ” said Jack. He picked up the little dog. Then he and Annie hurried down the hall. They crossed the third-class open deck, where more people were standing.

These people were not dressed in fancy clothes. They mostly wore plain, dark coats. They didn’t seem worried either. They were all joking and laughing. Jack and Annie slipped through the crowd. They went into a big smoky room. Four men were playing cards. A woman played the piano. A young couple danced to the music. “ Put on your life belts and go up to the boat deck! ” Annie shouted. The people looked at Annie in surprise. The card players smiled at her. She opened her mouth to yell again, but Jack pulled her out the door. “ Come on, ” he said. “ We have to get down to the third-class cabins before it’s too late. ” They hurried down another hall. Then they climbed down another stairway. Jack carried Teddy the whole way.

At the bottom of the stairs, they rounded a corner, and they both gasped. The floor was really slanting down here, and water sloshed at the end of a hallway. “ The Titanic is sinking, ” said Jack. “ But no one understands! ” said Annie. “ I know, ” said Jack. It made him feel terribly sad. Teddy whined. Jack buried his face in the little dog’s fur. “ Come on! ” said Annie. She began banging on the cabin doors. The doors swung open. The cabins were all empty. “ The people from this hallway must be the ones up near the lounge, ” said Jack. “ Maybe we should go down to a lower deck. ”

He started to walk back to the stairs. But Teddy began barking furiously. “ What’s wrong with him?” said Jack. “ I don’t know, ” said Annie. Suddenly, the dog leaped out of Jack’s arms. He charged down the hall. He was running straight toward the water! “ Watch out! ” cried Jack. He and Annie ran after Teddy. The dog began barking at a closed door. The door opened. A very small boy peeked out.