“Why, you're doing it this minute!” bellowed Trumpkin.
The Bear whipped his paw out of his mouth and pretended he hadn't heard.
“Sire!” came a shrill voice from near the ground.
“Ah—Reepicheep!” said Peter after looking up and down and round as people usually did when addressed by the Mouse.
“Sire,” said Reepicheep. “My life is ever at your command, but my honour is my own. Sire, I have among my people the only trumpeter in your Majesty's army. I had thought, perhaps, we might have been sent with the challenge. Sire, my people are grieved. Perhaps if it were your pleasure that I should be a marshal of the lists, it would content them.”