And they were utterly lost, in a winter country; alone, one thousand miles from home.
But only once did a single man complain aloud. Their wonderful leader sternly silenced him, by reminding him that they all were sharing and suffering alike.
When their lieutenant had been gone from them two days, seeking meat to relieve a famine, at his return he writes in his journal: "On the countenances of the men was not a frown, nor was there a desponding eye; all seemed happy to hail their officer and companions; yet not a mouthful had they eaten for four days." Indeed, they were planning to send out and rescue him.
It was this same spirit which made the American soldiers in France press forward, ever forward, and yield not an inch of ground.
Lieutenant Pike was an officer to love as well as to respect. He asked no favors; only obedience, and willingness to endure what he had to endure. He never spared himself. While others might stay in camp, he it was that went out into the cold and snow, hunting for meat. He made it plain that his honor, his country and his duty were more to him than his life. These were the three ideals that inspired him to go on when he might have been excused
