At the captain"s order, a bugler sounded the special command that would start the men working at the windlass mechanism near the gate.
The supporting pillars of the bridge stood every seventy-five feet. Every other pillar balanced carefully on an inverted triangle of stone. Dwarf-hewn cables of metal ran to a large pin on each of these pillars that locked the pillar to the roadway and held a stone block in place on one side at the top. Each block was attached by cable to a second block of equal weight on the opposing side. When the pins are pulled, the first block is released. The weight of the block as it falls and swings under the bridge would cause the pillar and the roadway on either side to collapse, leaving only the stable pillars standing upright every 150 feet.
They watched and w
