Page:A revised and enlarged account of the Bobbili zemindari.djvu/91

"When the cannon balls were found to be committing havoc on the inner apartments of the fort, Ranga-Rao called the Velama leaders together and said, 'The danger has passed beyond its limits. The army of the enemy is vast. It shall, therefore, be our look-out at present to guard our honour and win everlasting glory. Let Chelikani Venkayya go into the inner apartments and completely do away with women and children.' The Velama warrior went in faithful to his master's order, and observing the wife of Ranga-Rao sit with her son in her lap, simply told her that the enemy's army approached too near. No sooner had he said so than the honour-loving consort of Ranga-Rao entrusted her son to a female servant with a request to take him out of the fort and save him, then praying to God, uttered curses on Viziaramaraz, then planting a sword in the ground, threw herself upon it and died. Venkayya then thoroughly made away with the rest of the women. At the same