In Margery Sharp's renowned Miss Bianca series, delicate, regal Miss Bianca of the snowy fur and entrancing brown eyes has frequently embraced peril in the cause of right and rescue.

But in the last chronicle of that stalwart agency, the Mouse Prisoners' aid Society, it was Miss Bianca's faithful right-hand mouse companion Bernard who surmounted avalanches and confounded bandit gangs to rescue a kidnapped orphan heiress. Our newfound hero displays his bravery afresh in this new and delightful-as-ever Miss Bianca tale, Bernard into Battle.

After his recent feats of whisker-twitching bravado, Bernard is restless amid the peace and safety that have settled over the Embassy. But soon, the Ambassador and his family retire for a month's holiday in the country, and Embassy procedure abruptly deteriorates: Thomas the footman sets off on holiday himself, and old night watchman Methuselah tipples all day long from his master's wine cellar.

No one notices that a manhole cover in the cellar has been carelessly left askew by a Waterworks Board man. No one, that is, but the sewer's inhabitants—a pack of despicable rats bent on seizing all opportunities to spread dirt and disease throughout the entire Embassy. Even as Bernard sniffs out the abominable plot, on a daring incursion into rat headquarters, an insolent rat in the Embassy above gnaws the leg of the Ambassadress's favorite footstool—right before Miss Bianca's very eyes!

With time running out and the loathsome rats ready to strike, Miss Bianca resourcefully rallies the Waterworks Board, the house cat Omar, and even some dog-show terriers. But it is Bernard and the Mouse Prisoners' Aid Society, with pen-nib bayonets at the ready, assisted by Kahlil the game-board snake, and veteran teddy bear ally Algernon, who march to a stirring showdown in the royal residence.

Sparkling with Margery Sharp's characteristic gaiety, warmth, and humor, and charmingly illustrated by Leslie Morrill, Bernard into Battle will delight old and young readers alike.

From the dust jacket