风是一阵黑暗的洪流，吹在多风的树上，月亮是一艘幽灵般的大帆船，在多云的海面上颠簸，道路是一条月光的缎带，环绕着紫色的沼地，拦路强盗骑着马来了——骑着马——骑着马——拦路强盗骑着马来了，一直来到老旅店的门口。他额头上戴着一顶法式三角帽，下巴上系着一束花边;他穿一件紫红色的天鹅绒大衣，一条上等鹿皮的马裤。它们从来没有皱褶;他的靴子长到大腿!他骑着马，闪闪发光——他的剑柄闪闪发光——他的手枪枪托闪闪发光，在闪闪发光的天空下。他在黑漆漆的客栈院子里，踏着鹅卵石，哗啦哗啦地响个不停，他用鞭子敲打着百叶窗，但所有的门都锁上了，闩上了。他对着窗户吹了一支小调，谁在那儿等着呢?是房东的黑眼睛女儿——贝丝，房东的女儿——在她长长的黑发上扎了一个深红色的爱结。昏暗的老客栈院子里，一扇马厩的门柱嘎吱作响，马夫提姆在那里听着——他的脸苍白而尖尖——他的眼睛是疯癫的凹陷，他的头发像发霉的干草，但他爱房东的女儿——房东黑眼睛的女儿;他像条狗一样呆呆地听着，只听见强盗说:“亲一下，我美丽的心上人;今晚我要找一个奖品，但我要在天亮之前带着黄金回来。 Yet if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day, Then look for me by moonlight, Watch for me by moonlight, I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way." He stood upright in the stirrups; he scarce could reach her hand, But she loosened her hair in the casement! His face burnt like a brand As the sweet black waves of perfume came tumbling o'er his breast, Then he kissed its waves in the moonlight (O sweet black waves in the moonlight!), And he tugged at his reins in the moonlight, and galloped away to the west. He did not come in the dawning; he did not come at noon. And out of the tawny sunset, before the rise of the moon, When the road was a gypsy's ribbon over the purple moor, The redcoat troops came marching-- Marching--marching-- King George's men came marching, up to the old inn-door. They said no word to the landlord; they drank his ale instead, But they gagged his daughter and bound her to the foot of her narrow bed. Two of them knelt at her casement, with muskets by their side; There was Death at every window, And Hell at one dark window, For Bess could see, through her casement, the road that he would ride. They had bound her up at attention, with many a sniggering jest! They had tied a rifle beside her, with the barrel beneath her breast! "Now keep good watch!" and they kissed her. She heard the dead man say, "Look for me by moonlight, Watch for me by moonlight, I'll come to thee by moonlight, though Hell should bar the way." She twisted her hands behind her, but all the knots held good! She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood! They stretched and strained in the darkness, and the hours crawled by like years, Till, on the stroke of midnight, Cold on the stroke of midnight, The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers! The tip of one finger touched it, she strove no more for the rest; Up, she stood up at attention, with the barrel beneath her breast. She would not risk their hearing, she would not strive again, For the road lay bare in the moonlight, Blank and bare in the moonlight, And the blood in her veins, in the moonlight, throbbed to her love's refrain. Tlot tlot, tlot tlot! Had they heard it? The horse-hooves, ringing clear; Tlot tlot, tlot tlot, in the distance! Were they deaf that they did not hear? Down the ribbon of moonlight, over the brow of the hill, The highwayman came riding-- Riding--riding-- The redcoats looked to their priming! She stood up straight and still. Tlot tlot, in the frosty silence! Tlot tlot, in the echoing night! Nearer he came and nearer! Her face was like a light! Her eyes grew wide for a moment, she drew one last deep breath, Then her finger moved in the moonlight-- Her musket shattered the moonlight-- Shattered her breast in the moonlight and warned him--with her death. He turned, he spurred to the West; he did not know who stood Bowed, with her head o'er the casement, drenched in her own red blood! Not till the dawn did he hear it, and his face grew grey to hear How Bess, the landlord's daughter, The landlord's black-eyed daughter, Had watched for her love in the moonlight, and died in the darkness there. Back, he spurred like a madman, shrieking a curse to the sky,