《The Teller of Time》作者： - Carl Frederick【EPUB】

zaq

THE TELLER OF TIME by CARL FREDERICK Illustrated by Laurie Harden * * * * Most scientific experiments "fail"--but there's more than one measure of success. "Look to!" bell one's handler called out into the silence of the ringing chamber. "Treble's going." Dr. Kip Wolverton, his hands on the sally of bell eight's rope, glanced at the other ringers. They stood in a ten-foot-diameter circle, hands on the ropes that hung down from the belfry through holes in the chamber's ceiling. With faces alert, expressions eager and expectant, their eyes were fixed on old Caruthers, the tower captain. "Treble's gone." The captain gave a nod and the ringers began in sequence to pull their ropes. Bell one sounded first. At a mere 500 pounds, this bell, the treble, led the rest of the bells in playing a descending scale. Every two seconds, eight bells rippled down the scale, over and over, pouring a torrent of sound out into the English countryside. Each repetition of the scale ended with a strike from the huge tenor, Great Peter. This was Kip's bell, the lowest-pitched of the ring of eight. The tower trembled under the motion of the bells in the belfry above. Though Kip couldn't see it, he knew his bell: 22 hundredweight, 52-inch diameter with the inscription Vigilate et orate, watch and pray, engraved on its rim. 12345678 12345678 12345678 But these rounds were just a warm up. The captain gave the signal and the band of ringers began a quarter peal of Stedman Triples, permutations of the ringing order of the first seven bells, with Kip's tenor following each row of changes. 21354768 23145678 32416578 Like clockwork, they worked their ropes, their faces rapt in concentration.