"There's not the least danger," said Rikki-tikki. "But Nag is in
the garden, and I know you don't go there."
"My cousin Chua, the rat, told me—" said Chuchundra, and
then he stopped.
"Told you what?"
"H'sh! Nag is everywhere, Rikki-tikki. You should have talked
to Chua in the garden."
"I didn't—so you must tell me. Quick, Chuchundra, or I'll bite
you!"
Chuchundra sat down and cried till the tears rolled off his
whiskers. "I am a very poor man," he sobbed. "I never had spirit
enough to run out into the middle of the room. H'sh! I mustn't
tell you anything. Can't you hear, Rikki-tikki?"
Rikki-tikki listened. The house was as still as still, but he
thought he could just catch the faintest scratch-scratch in the
world—a noise as faint as that of a wasp walking on a window-
pane—the dry scratch of a snake's scales on brick-work.
"That's Nag or Nagaina," he said to himself, "and he is
crawling into the bath-room sluice. You're right, Chuchundra; I
should have talked to Chua."
He stole off to Teddy's bath-room, but there was nothing
there, and then to Teddy's mother's bathroom. At the bottom of
the smooth plaster wall there was a brick pulled out to make a
sluice for the bath water, and as Rikki-tikki stole in by the
masonry curb where the bath is put, he heard Nag and Nagaina
whispering together outside in the moonlight.
"When the house is emptied of people," said Nagaina to her
husband, "he will have to go away, and then the garden will be
our own again. Go in quietly, and remember that the big man
who killed Karait is the first one to bite. Then come out and tell
me, and we will hunt for Rikki-tikki together." "But are you sure that there is anything to be gained by killing
the people?" said Nag.
"Everything. When there were no people in the bungalow, did
we have any mongoose in the garden? So long as the bungalow
is empty, we are king and queen of the garden; and remember
that as soon as our eggs in the melon bed hatch (as they may
tomorrow), our children will need room and quiet."
"I had not thought of that," said Nag. "I will go, but there is no
need that we should hunt for Rikki-tikki afterward. I will kill the
big man and his wife, and the child if I can, and come away
quietly. Then the bungalow will be empty, and Rikki-tikki will
go."
Rikki-tikki tingled all over with rage and hatred at this, and
then Nag's head came through the sluice, and his five feet of
cold body followed it. Angry as he was, Rikki-tikki was very
frightened as he saw the size of the big cobra. Nag coiled himself
up, raised his head, and looked into the bathroom in the dark,
and Rikki could see his eyes glitter.
"Now, if I kill him here, Nagaina will know; and if I fight him
on the open floor, the odds are in his favor. What am I to do?"
said Rikki-tikki-tavi.
Nag waved to and fro, and then Rikki-tikki heard him drinking
from the biggest water-jar that was used to fill the bath. "That is
good," said the snake. "Now, when Karait was killed, the big
man had a stick. He may have that stick still, but when he
comes in to bathe in the morning he will not have a stick. I shall
wait here till he comes. Nagaina—do you hear me?—I shall wait
here in the cool till daytime."
There was no answer from outside, so Rikki-tikki knew
Nagaina had gone away. Nag coiled himself down, coil by coil,
round the bulge at the bottom of the water jar, and Rikki-tikki
stayed still as death. After an hour he began to move, muscle by
muscle, toward the jar. Nag was asleep, and Rikki-tikki looked
at his big back, wondering which would be the best place for a good hold. "If I don't break his back at the first jump," said
Rikki, "he can still fight. And if he fights—O Rikki!" He looked at
the thickness of the neck below the hood, but that was too much
for him; and a bite near the tail would only make Nag savage.
"It must be the head"' he said at last; "the head above the
hood. And, when I am once there, I must not let go."
Then he jumped. The head was lying a little clear of the water
jar, under the curve of it; and, as his teeth met, Rikki braced his
back against the bulge of the red earthenware to hold down the
head. This gave him just one second's purchase, and he made
the most of it. Then he was battered to and fro as a rat is shaken
by a dog—to and fro on the floor, up and down, and around in
great circles, but his eyes were red and he held on as the body
cart-whipped over the floor, upsetting the tin dipper and the
soap dish and the flesh brush, and banged against the tin side of
the bath. As he held he closed his jaws tighter and tighter, for he
made sure he would be banged to death, and, for the honor of
his family, he preferred to be found with his teeth locked. He
was dizzy, aching, and felt shaken to pieces when something
went off like a thunderclap just behind him. A hot wind knocked
him senseless and red fire singed his fur. The big man had been
wakened by the noise, and had fired both barrels of a shotgun
into Nag just behind the hood.
Rikki-tikki held on with his eyes shut, for now he was quite
sure he was dead. But the head did not move, and the big man
picked him up and said, "It's the mongoose again, Alice. The
little chap has saved our lives now."
Then Teddy's mother came in with a very white face, and saw
what was left of Nag, and Rikki-tikki dragged himself to Teddy's
bedroom and spent half the rest of the night shaking himself
tenderly to find out whether he really was broken into forty
pieces, as he fancied.
When morning came he was very stiff, but well pleased with
his doings. "Now I have Nagaina to settle with, and she will be
worse than five Nags, and there's no knowing when the eggs she spoke of will hatch. Goodness! I must go and see Darzee," he
said.
Without waiting for breakfast, Rikki-tikki ran to the thornbush
where Darzee was singing a song of triumph at the top of his
voice. The news of Nag's death was all over the garden, for the
sweeper had thrown the body on the rubbish-heap.
"Oh, you stupid tuft of feathers!" said Rikki-tikki angrily. "Is
this the time to sing?"
"Nag is dead—is dead—is dead!" sang Darzee. "The valiant
Rikki-tikki caught him by the head and held fast. The big man
brought the bang-stick, and Nag fell in two pieces! He will never
eat my babies again."
"All that's true enough. But where's Nagaina?" said Rikki-tikki,
looking carefully round him.
"Nagaina came to the bathroom sluice and called for Nag,"
Darzee went on, "and Nag came out on the end of a stick—the
sweeper picked him up on the end of a stick and threw him
upon the rubbish heap. Let us sing about the great, the red-eyed
Rikki-tikki!" And Darzee filled his throat and sang.
"If I could get up to your nest, I'd roll your babies out!" said
Rikki-tikki. "You don't know when to do the right thing at the
right time. You're safe enough in your nest there, but it's war for
me down here. Stop singing a minute, Darzee."
"For the great, the beautiful Rikki-tikki's sake I will stop," said
Darzee. "What is it, O Killer of the terrible Nag?"
"Where is Nagaina, for the third time?"
"On the rubbish heap by the stables, mourning for Nag. Great
is Rikki-tikki with the white teeth."
"Bother my white teeth! Have you ever heard where she keeps
her eggs?"...