Jamie is horrified to see his friends blown away by the cannonball. Realizing that the pirates are boarding a rowboat to come ashore and kill the rest of the boys, Jamie swims out to the boat and attacks them first, killing all six pirates on the boat. The pirate ship weighs anchor and sails away, and Jamie worries about what might have happened to Peter, who was still on the ship when it left. When Jamie makes it back to the shore, Charlie and Sal are waiting for him because Charlie refused without Jamie. They help Jamie to bury the dead boys.

The next day, Peter returns and is surprised to learn that there are only nine boys left and that one cannonball killed six of them. Jamie is angry about what happened and realizes that he is angriest at Peter. If Peter had not burned down the pirate camp, the pirates would never have come looking for revenge. Jamie realizes that while the boys who do not grow up could potentially live forever, only he, Nod, Fog, and Peter have not died or grown up all the time he has lived on the island.