At last, when the northern side also came in sight, and the whole island lay spread before them, San Benavides resigned himself to the inevitable.

For a little while, at least, he was perforce content to survey events through the eyes of his companions, and throw in his lot irrevocably with theirs.
Roughly speaking, Fernando Noronha itself, irrespective of the group of islands at its northeasterly extremity, stretches five miles from east to west, and averages a mile and a half in width.

From Cotton-Tree Bay, to which the catamarans had brought the small force, it was barely a mile to the village, convict settlement, and citadel.

Some few lights twinkling near the shore showed the exact whereabouts of the inhabited section.

Another mile away to the right lay Fort San Antonio, which housed the main body of troops.