. The jungle book. e hiss as thestroke missed. He came down almost across herback, and if he had been an old mongoose hewould have known that then was the time tobreak her back with one bite ; but he was afraidof the terrible lashine return-stroke of the bit, indeed, but did not bite long enough, andhe jumped clear of the whisking tail, leavingNagaina torn and angry. Wicked, wicked Darzee ! said Nag, lashingup as high as he could reach toward the nest inthe thorn-bush; but Darzee had built it out ofreach of snakes, and it only swayed to and fro. Rikki-tikki felt his eyes growing red a
. The jungle book. e hiss as thestroke missed. He came down almost across herback, and if he had been an old mongoose hewould have known that then was the time tobreak her back with one bite ; but he was afraidof the terrible lashine return-stroke of the bit, indeed, but did not bite long enough, andhe jumped clear of the whisking tail, leavingNagaina torn and angry. Wicked, wicked Darzee ! said Nag, lashingup as high as he could reach toward the nest inthe thorn-bush; but Darzee had built it out ofreach of snakes, and it only swayed to and fro. Rikki-tikki felt his eyes growing red and hot(when a mongooses eyes grow red, he is angry),and he sat back on his tail and hind lees like alittle kangaroo, and looked all around him, andchattered with rage. But Nag and Nagainahad disappeared into the grass. When a snakemisses its stroke, it never says anything or givesany sign of what it means to do next. Rikki-tikki did not care to follow them, for he did notfeel sure that he could manage two snakes at. RIKKI-TIKKI-TAVI 189 once. So he trotted off to the gravel path nearthe house, and sat down to think. It was a seri-ous matter for him. If you read the old books of natural history,you will find they say that when the mongoosefights the snake and happens to get bitten, heruns off and eats some herb that cures him. Thatis not true. The victory is only a matter of quick-ness of eye and quickness of foot,—-snakes blowagainst mongooses jump,—and as no eye canfollow the motion of a snakes head when itstrikes, that makes things much more wonder-ful than any magic herb. Rikki-tikki knewhe was a young mongoose, and it made him allthe more pleased to think that he had managedto escape a blow from behind. It gave himconfidence in himself, and when Teddy camerunning down the path, Rikki-tikki was readyto be petted. But just as Teddy was stooping, somethingflinched a little in the dust, and a tiny voice said: Be careful. I am death ! It was Karait, thedusty brown snakeling
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectanimals, bookyear1894
