Rajah's Cousin

Stewing in his little patch of plain and jungle in the Mahanadi delta on the Bay of Bengal, the feudal Rajah of Athgarh is freer of the British Crown than most of his great brother princes. His people are primitive Dravidians, his realm is small, he pays no tribute and is left pretty much to himself by the British Raj. Dearer to him than his elaborate pedigree, as imaginative as it is long, is his pack of 80 police dogs. Trained to hunt man, the pack has proved a failure at hunting India's leopards and black bucks, a success at frightening the citizens of Athgarh.

One night last week the Rajah's cousin stepped out across the Rajah's steaming acres. A snarling sounded nearby. Down a corridor of trees the cousin looked into the slavering jaws of 80 police dogs, charging out of the night. He began to run. In the morning trembling servants of the Rajah of Athgarh brought him several chewed tatters of his cousin.

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