The Hornline

West of Oakdrum the ridge breaks off into a ravine so deep and sudden that the goat trails on the far side might as well be on the moon. The satyrs do not go around it. They go over it, on the Hornline: a thick twisted rope strung from a stone post on the Oakdrum side to a stone post on the far edge, with a deep wicker basket hung from a pulley wheel beneath it. A second rope runs through both posts in a loop, and whoever is on the near side hauls the basket across hand over hand.

The basket holds two people, or one person and a goat, or three goats and nobody. The crossing takes only a few minutes, and it sways in the wind and creaks the whole way, which the satyrs think is very funny. Strangers may ride if the satyr on the post agrees, and the price is whatever that satyr says it is that day: a few coins, a song, or a joke good enough to make the satyr laugh. Arguing about the price is allowed and usually makes it go up.