【英文故事】印奇开普暗礁

欧美50故事英文版：印奇开普暗礁THE INCHCAPE ROCK.

In the North Sea there is a great rock called the Inch-cape Rock. It
is twelve miles from any land, and is covered most of the time with
water.
Many boats and ships have been wrecked on that rock; for it is so near
the top of the water that no vessel can sail over it without striking
it.
More than a hundred years ago there lived not far away a kind-heart-ed
man who was called the Abbot of Ab-er-broth-ock.
"It is a pity," he said, "that so many brave sailors should lose their
lives on that hidden rock.
We will play a trick on the old abbot."
The boat was low-ered. Strong arms soon rowed it to the Inchcape Rock.
Then the robber, with a heavy ax, broke the chain that held the buoy.
He cut the fas-ten-ings of the bell. It fell into the water. There
was a gur-gling sound as it sank out of sight.
"The next one that comes this way will not bless the abbot," said
Ralph the Rover.
Soon a breeze sprang up, and the black ship sailed away. The sea
robber laughed as he looked back and saw that there was nothing to
mark the place of the hidden rock.
For many days, Ralph the Rover scoured the seas, and many were the
ships that he plun-dered. At last he chanced to sail back toward the
place from which he had started.
The wind had blown hard all day. The waves rolled high. The ship was
moving swiftly. But in the evening the wind died away, and a thick fog
came on.
Ralph the Rover walked the deck. He could not see where the ship was
going. "If the fog would only clear away!" he said.
"I thought I heard the roar of breakers," said the pilot. "We must be
near the shore."
"I cannot tell," said Ralph the Rover; "but I think we are not far
from the Inchcape Rock. I wish we could hear the good abbot's bell."
The next moment there was a great crash. "It is the Inchcape Rock!"
the sailors cried, as the ship gave a lurch to one side, and began to
sink.
"Oh, what a wretch am I!" cried Ralph the Rover. "This is what comes
of the joke that I played on the good abbot!"
What was it that he heard as the waves rushed over him? Was it the
abbot's bell, ringing for him far down at the bottom of the sea?