Rikki-tikki listened.  The house was as still as still, but he thought he could just catch the faintest scratch-scratch in the world,—­a noise as faint as that of a wasp walking on a window-pane,—­the dry scratch of a snake’s scales on brickwork.

‘That’s Nag or Nagaina,’ he said to himself; ’and he’s crawling into the bath-room sluice.  You’re right, Chuchundra; I should have talked to Chua.’

He stole off to Teddy’s bath-room, but there was nothing there, and then to Teddy’s mother’s bath-room.  At the bottom of the smooth plaster wall there was a brick pulled out to make a sluice for the bath-water, and as Rikki-tikki stole in by the masonry curb where the bath is put, he heard Nag and Nagaina whispering together outside in the moonlight.

‘When the house is emptied of people,’ said Nagaina to her husband, ’he will have to go away, and then the garden will be our own again.  Go in quietly, and remember that the big man who killed Karait is the first one to bite.  Then come out and tell me, and we will hunt for Rikki-tikki together.’

’But are you sure that there is anything to be gained by killing the people?’ said Nag.

’Everything.  When there were no people in the bungalow, did we have any mongoose in the garden?  So long as the bungalow is empty, we are king and queen of the garden; and remember that as soon as our eggs in the melon-bed hatch (as they may to-morrow), our children will need room and quiet.’

I had not thought of that,’ said Nag.  ’I will go, but there is no need that we should hunt for Rikki-tikki afterward.  I will kill the big man and his wife, and the child if I can, and come away quietly.  Then the bungalow will be empty, and Rikki-tikki will go.’

Rikki-tikki tingled all over with rage and hatred at this, and then Nag’s head came through the sluice, and his five feet of cold body followed it.  Angry as he was, Rikki-tikki was very frightened as he saw the size of the big cobra.  Nag coiled himself up, raised his head, and looked into the bath-room in the dark, and Rikki could see his eyes glitter.

’Now, if I kill him here, Nagaina will know; and if I fight him on the open floor, the odds are in his favour.  What am I to do?’ said Rikki-tikki-tavi.

Nag waved to and fro, and then Rikki-tikki heard him drinking from the biggest water-jar that was used to fill the bath.  ‘That is good,’ said the snake.  ’Now, when Karait was killed, the big man had a stick.  He may have that stick still, but when he comes in to bathe in the morning he will not have a stick.  I shall wait here till he comes.  Nagaina—­do you hear me?—­I shall wait here in the cool till daytime.’

There was no answer from outside, so Rikki-tikki knew Nagaina had gone away.  Nag coiled himself down, coil by coil, round the bulge at the bottom of the water-jar, and Rikki-tikki stayed still as death.  After an hour he began to move, muscle by muscle, toward the jar.  Nag was asleep, and Rikki-tikki looked at his big back, wondering which would be the best place for a good hold.  ’If I don’t break his back at the first jump,’ said Rikki, ’he can still fight; and if he fights—­O Rikki!’ He looked at the thickness of the neck below the hood, but that was too much for him; and a bite near the tail would only make Nag savage.