The first step of the assault is to set fire to the grain stored at one end of the village. When the people are preoccupied in putting out the fire, the bandits steal from houses at the other end and disappear.

The gang is never a small one. It is not just ten or twenty dacoits at a time. It is always a large one of a hundred or two hundred. Each member is armed with a torch in one hand and a spear, sickle or dagger in the other.

A band of two or three is assigned to every house in the village to make sure that the people cannot come out and the thieving is restricted to a few specific homes alone.

If the targeted person has hidden jewels in a pot and buried it in a secret place, they swing the burning torch into the poor man’s face and demand, ‘Tell us … where have you hidden it?’

These attacks are more common during colder seasons. If the dacoits happen upon a locked door, then the house is burnt down, or the walls broken with crowbars.

That night the Kottaiyar house and the entire village were preparing themselves for the raid. They stocked the first floor and the roofs with stones to fling with their hands or using slings. Stones were the principal weapon for the people to counter-attack the bandits and protect themselves.

The young men had selected all the round hard stones and Akkayya was left with only the flat ones. But that was good too for flat stones, if flung at the right speed, can tear through the air and scare the person at the opposite end.

They placed the strong, muscular men on many house tops with stones and other sundry weapons.

Once the sun went down, the people had an early dinner, hoarded away all the important items in the house and began to put off the lights.

At the Kottaiyar house, the women and children were asked to go upstairs and lock themselves in the room with an iron door. But before they could lock the door, Govindappa Nayakkar’s ten-year-old son, Thiruvathi, ran out, caught hold of Akkayya’s veshti and asked, huskily, ‘Mama, I hear dacoits are going to come to our house. Mama, Mama, I have never seen a dacoit. I have never seen one. Will you wake me when he arrives?’ Akkayya looked around at all the men, his eyes filled with laughter and surprise. Then he nodded yes to the lad, pressed a stone in his palm and whispered, ‘Whatever happens, keep this under your pillow.’ The women tried their best not to grin at this advice.

Krishnappa Nayakkar, Akkayya and Oorkudumban hid under the stairwell.

Once it was dark, people went in and shut their doors, like roosting birds.

On Govindappa Nayakkar’s orders, the fort door was left wide open. In the central courtyard of the house, Akkayya was drying four baskets full of ragi.

The night grew darker. They decided on a few select people to pretend to rest; they had to wake up only when called for. But everyone was apprehensive, so then how could anyone sleep? It was difficult to act as if nothing was wrong. Time did not seem to move at all. Even the stars seemed pegged to the sky. It was only by the sounds of nocturnal creatures that they gauged the time.