Indeed and truly , you 've chosen a bad place to be lame in . '' And she moved toward Darzee 's wife , slipping along over the dust . `` The boy broke it with a stone ! '' shrieked Darzee 's wife . `` Well ! It may be some consolation to you when you 're dead to know that I shall settle accounts with the boy . My husband lies on the rubbish heap this morning , but before night the boy in the house will lie very still . What is the use of running away ? I am sure to catch you . Little fool , look at me ! '' Darzee 's wife knew better than to do that , for a bird who looks at a snake 's eyes gets so frightened that she can not move . Darzee 's wife fluttered on , piping sorrowfully , and never leaving the ground , and Nagaina quickened her pace . Rikki-tikki heard them going up the path from the stables , and he raced for the end of the melon patch near the wall . There , in the warm litter above the melons , very cunningly hidden , he found twenty-five eggs , about the size of a bantam 's eggs , but with whitish skin instead of shell . `` I was not a day too soon , '' he said , for he could see the baby cobras curled up inside the skin , and he knew that the minute they were hatched they could each kill a man or a mongoose . He bit off the tops of the eggs as fast as he could , taking care to crush the young cobras , and turned over the litter from time to time to see whether he had missed any . At last there were only three eggs left , and Rikki-tikki began to chuckle to himself , when he heard Darzee 's wife screaming : `` Rikki-tikki , I led Nagaina toward the house , and she has gone into the veranda , and -- oh , come quickly -- she means killing ! '' Rikki-tikki smashed two eggs , and tumbled backward down the melon-bed with the third egg in his mouth , and scuttled to the veranda as hard as he could put foot to the ground . Teddy and his mother and father were there at early breakfast , but Rikki-tikki saw that they were not eating anything . They sat stone-still , and their faces were white .
Nagaina was coiled up on the matting by XXXXX 's chair , within easy striking distance of Teddy 's bare leg , and she was swaying to and fro , singing a song of triumph .
Darzee Rikki-tikki Teddy bantam cobras left melons mongoose morning night