Rikki-tikki licked his lips . `` This is a splendid hunting-ground , '' he said , and his tail grew bottle-brushy at the thought of it , and he scuttled up and down the garden , snuffing here and there till he heard very sorrowful voices in a thorn-bush . It was Darzee , the Tailorbird , and his wife . They had made a beautiful nest by pulling two big leaves together and stitching them up the edges with fibers , and had filled the hollow with cotton and downy fluff . The nest swayed to and fro , as they sat on the rim and cried . `` What is the matter ? '' asked Rikki-tikki . `` We are very miserable , '' said Darzee . `` One of our babies fell out of the nest yesterday and Nag ate him . '' `` H 'm ! '' said Rikki-tikki , `` that is very sad -- but I am a stranger here . Who is Nag ? '' Darzee and his wife only cowered down in the nest without answering , for from the thick grass at the foot of the bush there came a low hiss -- a horrid cold sound that made Rikki-tikki jump back two clear feet . Then inch by inch out of the grass rose up the head and spread hood of Nag , the big black cobra , and he was five feet long from tongue to tail . When he had lifted one-third of himself clear of the ground , he stayed balancing to and fro exactly as a dandelion tuft balances in the wind , and he looked at Rikki-tikki with the wicked snake 's eyes that never change their expression , whatever the snake may be thinking of . `` 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 XXXXX the back of it that looks exactly like the eye part of a hook-and-eye fastening .
at by in of on till to upon with without