As the boats pull away, John Byron watches Captain Cheap abandoned on the shore and feels the weight of dishonor. A sudden squall splits the longboat’s makeshift foresail, forcing Bulkeley’s party to shelter on a nearby island. The setback gives Byron time to dwell on his choice and the stain of deserting his commander.

When Bulkeley seeks volunteers to retrieve a discarded tent for sailcloth, Byron and Midshipman Campbell go with eight men and secretly resolve to rescue Cheap. They recruit several former Cheap supporters who fear hanging if they return to England. Under cover of night, they reach Wager Island with the barge, where Cheap, astonished and invigorated, welcomes them and confers with Surgeon Elliot and Marine Lieutenant Hamilton about renewed prospects.

By morning, Byron confronts grim realities: he is nearly naked, barefoot, and foodless. Their rations remain with the mutineers. Cheap shares a little rotten meat, but it cannot sustain them. Despite Cheap’s warning that the mutineers will seize the barge, Byron proposes hiding the boat and going overland with Campbell to claim their party’s share of provisions. With Cheap’s encouragement, they conceal the barge and set out across swamps and forests.

At the mutineers’ camp, Bulkeley is baffled and stung by Byron’s refusal to desert Cheap. When Byron and Campbell request rations, Bulkeley and Baynes demand the barge in exchange and threaten to arm the cutter and come after them if it is not surrendered. Byron’s pleas fail. In a brief kindness, the seaman John Duck offers Byron his hat, which Byron returns. Byron and Campbell hasten back to the hidden barge and cross the water, watching for a pursuing cutter.