Page:A revised and enlarged account of the Bobbili zemindari.djvu/60

Rh courage in the natives of Indostan, and continually offered quarter, which was always answered by the menace and intention of death: not a man had gained the rampart at two o'clock in the afternoon, when another cessation of the attack ensued; on which Ranga Row assembled the principal men, told them there was no hope of maintaining the fort, and that it was immediately necessary to preserve their wives and children from the violation of the Europeans, and the more ignominious authority of Vizeramrauze. A number called without distinction were allotted to the work; they proceeded, every man with a torch, his lance, and poignard, to the habitations in the middle of the fort, to which they set fire indiscriminately, plying the flame with straw prepared with pitch and brimstone, and every man stabbed, without remorse, the woman or child, whichsoever attempted to escape the flame and suffocation Not the helpless infant, clinging to the bosom of its