Mesto na samem robu

Najprej pride veter. Polly leti proti jugu ob obali Korzike, dokler se otok ne konča. Pred njo je odprto morje, daleč stran pa še en otok, nizek in moder. To je Sardinija. Morju med njima pravijo Bonifacijev preliv in skozenj piha močan veter.

The wind comes first. Polly flies south along the coast of Corsica until the island ends. In front of her there is open water, and far away another island, low and blue. That is Sardinia. The water between them is called the Strait of Bonifacio, and the wind blows hard through it.

Obrne se in zagleda mesto. Stoji na beli pečini, čisto na robu. Hiše so visoke in ozke, z zaprtimi polkni. Potem Polly opazi nekaj čudnega. Pod zidovi ni nobenega prostora. Kamen hiš gre naravnost v kamen pečine. Pečina pa pada približno sedemdeset metrov globoko do morja.

She turns back and sees the town. It stands on a white cliff, right at the edge. The houses are tall and narrow, with closed shutters. Then Polly notices something strange. There is no space at the bottom of the walls. The stone of the houses goes straight into the stone of the cliff. And the cliff falls about seventy meters down to the sea.

Polly pristane na starem mestnem obzidju in pogleda dol. Skala je bleda in suha. Globoko pod njo v krogih letajo galebi. Potem zagleda nekaj nenavadnega. Nekdo je v pečino vsekal ozko črto in v njej so stopnice.

Polly lands on the old town wall and looks down. The rock is pale and dry. Gulls fly in circles far below her. Then she sees something strange. Someone has cut a narrow line into the cliff, and inside it there are steps.

Poskuša jih prešteti, a svetloba že pojema. Stopnice se spuščajo vedno globlje v senco. Spodaj morje udarja ob skalo. Polly pomisli: tja dol grem.

She tries to count them, but the light is going. The steps go down and down into shadow. The sea moves against the rock below. Polly thinks: I am going down there.