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, 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 honour of his family, 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 man
had been wakened by the noise, and had fired both barrels of a
shot-gun 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 Teddy's
bedroom and spent half the rest of the night shaking himself
tenderly to find out whether he really 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 thorn-bush
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