Stevens began an early war against them, and shot them wherever they could be found.
Far to the north were two more islands evidently not so large as the one on which they were cast.

Dangerous reefs lay between them and all about the three islands, making navigation difficult if not impossible.
Blanche bore the journey well and did not give way to despair even when they discovered that they were on an uninhabited island.

For her sake Stevens kept up a show of courage, though he found despair rising within his breast.
"We must get the provisions and tools from off the wreck," he said, "and make our stay here as comfortable as possible.
"How long will that stay be ?" she asked.
"God in heaven alone can tell." "Surely some passing ship will see us." He hoped so; but that reef-girt shore seemed to forbid the approach of a vessel.

Nevertheless he set up long poles with flags on them at different points of the island, so that a passing ship might see them for miles out to sea.
Then he began the work of unloading the wreck.

There was an inlet or mouth of a creek not far from the place where they first landed, and, constructing a raft on the wreck and loading it with arms, provisions, ammunition and tools, they took advantage of the tide to float it in to shore.