instant's delay brought Rikki-tikki up to her, and as she plunged
into the rat-hole where she and Nag used to live, his little white
teeth were clenched on her tail, and he went down with her--and very
few mongooses, however wise and old they may be, care to follow a
cobra into its hole. It was dark in the hole; and Rikki-tikki never
knew when it might open out and give Nagaina room to turn and strike
at him. He held on savagely, and struck out his feet to act as brakes
on the dark slope of the hot, moist earth.

Then the grass by the mouth of the hole stopped waving, and Darzee
said: 'It is all over with Rikki-tikki! We must sing his death-song.
Valiant Rikki-tikki is dead! For Nagaina will surely kill him
underground.'

So he sang a very mournful song that he made up on the spur of the
minute, and just as he got to the most touching part the grass
quivered again, and Rikki-tikki, covered with dirt, dragged himself
out of the hole leg by leg, licking his whiskers. Darzee stopped with
a little shout. Rikki-tikki shook some of the dust out of his fur and
sneezed. 'It is all over,' he said. 'The widow will never come out
again.' And the red ants that live between the grass stems heard him,
and began to troop down one after another to see if he had spoken the
truth.

Rikki-tikki curled himself up in the grass and slept where he
was--slept and slept till it was late in the afternoon, for he had
done a hard day's work.

'Now,' he said, when he awoke, 'I will go back to the house. Tell the
Coppersmith, Darzee, and he will tell the garden that Nagaina is