Pike and Robinson proved on the whole the hardiest, being kept up by their indomitable will, though Pike mentions with gratification that but once, in all their trials, did a single member of the party so much as grumble.
The Party almost Perishes from Starvation.
Pike and Robinson were also the best hunters; and it was their skill and stout-heartedness, shown in the time of direst need, that saved the whole party from death.

In the Wet Mountain valley, which they reached mid-January, 1807, at the time that nine of the men froze their feet, starvation stared them in the face.

There had been a heavy snowstorm; no game was to be seen; and they had been two days without food.

The men with frozen feet, exhausted by hunger, could no longer travel.

Two of the soldiers went out to hunt, but got nothing.