CHAPTER TWO ON BOARD THE DAWN TREADER（第5/5页）

“Stop it，”spluttered Eustace，“go away．Put that thing away.It’s not safe．Stop it，I say．I’ll tell Caspian．I’ll have you muzzled and tied up．”

“Why do you not draw your own sword，poltroon ！”cheeped the Mouse．“Draw and fight or I’ll beat you black and blue with the flat．”

“I haven’t got one，”said Eustace．“I’m a pacifist．I don’t believe in fighting．”

“Do I understand，”said Reepicheep，withdrawing his sword for a moment and speaking very sternly，“that you do not intend to give me satisfaction ？”

“I don’t know what you mean，”said Eustace，nursing his hand. “If you don’t know how to take a joke I shan’t bother my head about you．”

“Then take that，”said Reepicheep，“and that—to teach you manners—and the respect due to a knight—and a Mouse—and a Mouse’s tail—”and at each word he gave Eustace a blow with the side of his rapier，which was thin，fine，dwarf—tempered steel and as supple and effective as a birch rod．Eustace(of course) was at a school where they didn’t have corporal punishment，so the sensation was quite new to him．That was why，in spite of having no sea—legs，it took him less than a minute to get off that　forecastle and cover the whole length of the deck and burst in at the cabin door—still hotly pursued by Reepicheep．Indeed it seemed to Eustace that the rapier as well as the pursuit was hot．It might have been red—hot by the feel．

There was not much difficulty in settling the matter once Eustace realized that everyone took the idea of a duel seriously and heard Caspian offering to lend him a sword，and Drinian and Edmund discussing whether he ought to be handicapped in some way to make up for his being so much bigger than Reepicheep．He apologized sulkily and went off with Lucy to have his hand bathed and bandaged and then went to his bunk．He was careful to lie on his side．