Though the calendar reads August, cold nights arrive earlier than expected, and the three castaways huddle under the sail to keep warm. Sensing winter's approach, they begin salting more meat. Idle without her ruined garden, Marguerite asks Damienne to teach her butchering and Auguste to teach her shooting. Damienne objects on grounds of propriety, but Marguerite insists on accompanying Auguste to the rookery to gather eggs while he hunts birds, inspired by the warrior-women she read about in her book of ladies.

At the rookery, Marguerite is unsettled by the birds' shrewd, blue, almost human eyes. When Auguste fires his arquebus, she panics, drops the basket, and returns empty-handed and ashamed. Determined not to be haunted by failure, she goes back the next day, avoids the birds' eyes, and successfully gathers three eggs. She confides to Auguste that the birds frighten her because their eyes resemble human ones; he insists they are merely animals to be hunted.

Auguste also begins fishing from a treacherous outcropping, eventually catching a large cod. The trio settles into productive routine—Damienne cleaning, Auguste salting, Marguerite packing meat into biscuit boxes and drying seagrass as an herb. Marguerite discovers an unfamiliar joy in usefulness, and even Damienne praises her work. They celebrate with wine.

Damienne wishes for music, so Auguste unpacks his cittern and Marguerite's virginal—only to find both ruined by damp and sea air, their pegs warped and mechanisms rotted though their cases remain pristine. Marguerite reads this as Roberval's curse: outwardly perfect, inwardly corrupt. Auguste salvages the instruments, suggesting their wire strings may be useful.

Suddenly they spot narrow boats with dark oarsmen approaching. Terrified, they extinguish the fire, grab weapons, and flee inland, dragging Damienne to the rock pool where they hide. The boats pass by southward without stopping. Shaken, the three resolve to abandon their signal fire and seek a more concealed shelter, accepting that rescue is no longer their goal—survival is.