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 bath-room 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 favour. 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 earthen-rare 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 round in great circles; at 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, an