`` Who is Nag ? '' said he . `` I am Nag . The great God Brahm put his mark upon all our people , when the first cobra spread his hood to keep the sun off Brahm as he slept . Look , and be afraid ! '' He spread out his hood more than ever , and Rikki-tikki saw the spectacle-mark on the back of it that looks exactly like the eye part of a hook-and-eye fastening . He was afraid for the minute , but it is impossible for a mongoose to stay frightened for any length of time , and though Rikki-tikki had never met a live cobra before , his mother had fed him on dead ones , and he knew that all a grown mongoose 's business in life was to fight and eat snakes . Nag knew that too and , at the bottom of his cold heart , he was afraid . `` Well , '' said Rikki-tikki , and his tail began to fluff up again , `` marks or no marks , do you think it is right for you to eat fledglings out of a nest ? '' Nag was thinking to himself , and watching the least little movement in the grass behind Rikki-tikki . He knew that mongooses in the garden meant death sooner or later for him and his family , but he wanted to get Rikki-tikki off his guard . So he dropped his head a little , and put it on one side . `` Let us talk , '' he said . `` You eat eggs . Why should not I eat birds ? '' `` Behind you ! 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 XXXXX he was talking , to make an end of him .
Behind as at before for in on though to under