Page:Lost with Lieutenant Pike (1919).djvu/265

 Thus they cried, bravely and huskily; for who could help loving this stanch little officer, who asked no favors of rank, except to lead, and who now stood before them, in his stained red fur-lined cap, his wet, torn blanket-coat, his bedraggled thin blue trousers and soaked, scuffed moccasins. He was all man.

He raised his hand. His face had flushed, his eyes had softened moistly, and his lips quivered.

"That will do, lads. We understand each other, and I'm sure Brown will not repeat his offense. For my part, I am determined that we shall not move again without a supply of food. That imperils our success, and is more than our duty would require of us."

"Still, we might have made good, hadn't we left the bulk of our meat with Sparks and Dougherty, back yonder," Freegift Stout remarked, to the others in his mess. "That's what pinched us."