Wireless sensor network consisting of a large number of sensors is effective for gathering data in a variety of environments. Since the sensors operate on battery of limited power, it is a challenging task to design an efficient routing scheme which can minimize the delay while offering high energy efficiency and long network lifetime. In this paper we propose a new routing protocol and data gathering scheme in which the sensor nodes form chains in each cluster. The cluster and chain construction occur only once, and the cluster-head rotates locally inside the cluster without re-clustering. Simulation results show that the proposed routing scheme significantly reduces energy consumption and increases the lifetime of sensor network compared to other hierarchical routing schemes such as Low-Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (LEACH) and Power-Efficient Gathering in Sensor Information System (PEGASIS).