He really had some excuse this time for feeling a little surprised. Something very curious indeed had come out of the cabin in the poop and was slowly approaching them. You might call it.and indeed it was.a Mouse. But then it was a Mouse on its hind legs and stood about two feet high. A thin band of gold passed round its head under one ear and over the other and in this was stuck a long crimson feather. （As the Mouse‘s fur was very dark， almost black， the effect was bold and striking.） Its left paw rested on the hilt of a sword very nearly as long as its tail. Its balance， as it paced gravely along the swaying deck， was perfect， and its manners courtly. Lucy and Edmund recognized it at once. Reepicheep， the most valiant of all the Talking Beasts of Narnia， and the Chief Mouse. He had won undying glory in the second Battle of Beruna. Lucy longed， as she had always done， to take Reepicheep up in her arms and cuddle him. But this， as she well knew， was a pleasure she could never have： it would have offended him deeply. Instead， she went down on one knee to talk to him.
