- Sea Caves to Clifftop
- Walked by Two in the Wheel
- Pay Going Up, Free Coming Down
The Treadwheel
Smuggler's Cove is built into the south cliff of its island, from the lantern-lit sea caves at the bottom to the forest on top. Rope ladders and plank walkways link the shanties, but cargo does not climb ladders. It rides the Treadwheel: a great wooden wheel, taller than three people, set in a timber frame on the clifftop. Two walkers tread inside it, and as it turns it winds a rope that lifts an open cage up the cliff face from the docks in the caves.
The cage carries crates, barrels and passengers, and it takes a slow quarter of an hour to rise past every walkway of the town. The dockhand at the bottom names a price for the ride up, and haggles over it with real enjoyment. A ride down is free, because the walkers only have to hold the brake. Everyone in the Cove knows the signals: one knock on the cage rail for slower, two for stop, and three for "do not ask what is in the crates."
The cage carries crates, barrels and passengers, and it takes a slow quarter of an hour to rise past every walkway of the town. The dockhand at the bottom names a price for the ride up, and haggles over it with real enjoyment. A ride down is free, because the walkers only have to hold the brake. Everyone in the Cove knows the signals: one knock on the cage rail for slower, two for stop, and three for "do not ask what is in the crates."