“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 (Рикки-Тикки раздавил /еще/ два яйца; to smash – разбивать/ся/ вдребезги), and tumbled backward down the melon-bed with the third egg in his mouth (скатился с дынной грядки с третьим яйцом во рту; to tumble – падать; бросать/ся/), and scuttled to the veranda as hard as he could put foot to the ground (и помчался к веранде со всех ног: «и поспешно побежал к веранде так энергично, как мог ставить ногу на землю»; to scuttle – поспешно бежать; hard – /нареч./ энергично, активно, решительно, настойчиво, упорно; неистово, яростно). Teddy and his mother and father were there at early breakfast (Тэдди, его мать и отец были = сидели за ранним = первым завтраком), but Rikki-tikki saw that they were not eating anything (но Рикки-Тикки увидел, что они ничего не едят). They sat stone-still (они сидели неподвижно, как каменные; to sit; still – бесшумный, тихий; неподвижный), and their faces were white (и их лица были белыми). Nagaina was coiled up on the matting by Teddy’s chair (Нагайна свернулась на циновке около стула Тэдди; to coil /up/ – свертываться кольцом), within easy striking distance of Teddy’s bare leg (на таком расстоянии, /что она могла/ легко нанести удар = укусить голую ногу Тэдди; to strike – ударять, нанести удар; distance – расстояние), and she was swaying to and fro (покачивалась взад и вперед; to sway – качать/ся/, колебать/ся/), singing a song of triumph (и пела торжествующую песню: «песню триумфа»).
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 Teddy’s chair, within easy striking distance of Teddy’s bare leg, and she was swaying to and fro, singing a song of triumph.