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The doctor resumed,--
"There is in the midst of the sea, halfway between Portland and the
Channel Islands, a buoy, placed there as a caution; that buoy is moored
by chains to the shoal, and floats on the top of the water. On the buoy
is fixed an iron trestle, and across the trestle a bell is hung. In bad
weather heavy seas toss the buoy, and the bell rings. That is the bell
you hear."
The doctor paused to allow an extra violent gust of wind to pass over,
waited until the sound of the bell reasserted itself, and then went
on,--
"
To hear that bell in a storm, when the nor'-wester is blowing, is to be
lost. Wherefore? For this reason: if you hear the bell, it is because
the wind brings it to you. But the wind is nor'-westerly, and the
breakers of Aurigny lie east. You hear the bell only because you are
between the buoy and the breakers. It is on those breakers the wind is
driving you. You are on the wrong side of the buoy. If you were on the
right side, you would be out at sea on a safe course, and you would not
hear the bell. The wind would not convey the sound to you. You would
pass close to the buoy without knowing it. We are out of our course.
That bell is shipwreck sounding the tocsin. Now, look out!"
As the doctor spoke, the bell, soothed by a lull of the storm, rang
slowly stroke by stroke, and its intermitting toll seemed to testify to
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