Look behind you ! '' sang Darzee . Rikki-tikki knew better than to waste time in staring . He jumped up in the air as high as he could go , and just under him whizzed by the head of Nagaina , Nag 's wicked wife . She had crept up behind him as he was talking , to make an end of him . He heard her savage hiss as the stroke missed . He came down almost across her back , and if he had been an old mongoose he would have known that then was the time to break her back with one bite ; but he was afraid of the terrible lashing return stroke of the cobra . He bit , indeed , but did not bite long enough , and he jumped clear of the whisking tail , leaving Nagaina torn and angry . `` Wicked , wicked Darzee ! '' said Nag , lashing up as high as he could reach toward the nest in the thorn-bush . But Darzee had built it out of reach of snakes , and it only swayed to and fro . Rikki-tikki felt his eyes growing red and hot -LRB- when a mongoose 's eyes grow red , he is angry -RRB- , and he sat back on his tail and hind legs like a little kangaroo , and looked all round him , and chattered with rage . But Nag and Nagaina had disappeared into the grass . When a snake misses its stroke , it never says anything or gives any sign of what it means to do next . Rikki-tikki did not care to follow them , for he did not feel sure that he could manage two snakes at once . So he trotted off to the gravel path near the house , and sat down to think . It was a serious matter for him . If you read the old books of natural history , you will find they say that when the mongoose fights the snake and happens to get bitten , he runs off and eats some herb that cures him . That is not true . The victory is only a matter of quickness of eye and quickness of foot -- snake 's blow against mongoose 's jump -- and as no eye can follow the motion of a snake 's head when it strikes , this makes things much more wonderful than any magic herb .
XXXXX knew he was a young mongoose , and it made him all the more pleased to think that he had managed to escape a blow from behind .
Darzee Nag Nagaina Rikki-tikki bite books eyes fro kangaroo mongoose