Most Dangerous Game

"Can't see it," remarked Rainsford, trying to peer through the dank tropical night that was palpable as it pressed its thick warm blackness in upon the yacht.

"For the hunter," amended Whitney.

Even cannibals wouldn't live in such a God-forsaken place.

Sometimes I think evil is a tangible thing--with wave lengths, just as sound and light have.

The sensuous drowsiness of the night was on him."

An abrupt sound startled him.

Rainsford sprang up and moved quickly to the rail, mystified.

Desperately he struck out with strong strokes after the receding lights of the yacht, but he stopped before he had swum fifty feet.

They had come from the right, and doggedly he swam in that direction, swimming with slow, deliberate strokes, conserving his strength.

They had come from the right, and doggedly he swam in that direction, swimming with slow, deliberate strokes, conserving his strength.

They had come from the right, and doggedly he swam in that direction, swimming with slow, deliberate strokes, conserving his strength.

It came out of the darkness, a high screaming sound, the sound of an animal in an extremity of anguish and terror.

He did not recognize the animal that made the sound; he did not try to; with fresh vitality he swam toward the sound.

"Pistol shot," muttered Rainsford, swimming on.

Dense jungle came down to the very edge of the cliffs.

What perils that tangle of trees and underbrush might hold for him did not concern Rainsford just then.

He flung himself down at the jungle edge and tumbled headlong into the deepest sleep of his life.

But what kind of men, he wondered, in so forbidding a place?

An unbroken front of snarled and ragged jungle fringed the shore.

An unbroken front of snarled and ragged jungle fringed the shore.

He saw no sign of a trail through the closely knit web of weeds and trees; it was easier to go along the shore, and Rainsford floundered along by the water.

Some wounded thing--by the evidence, a large animal--had thrashed about in the underbrush; the jungle weeds were crushed down and the moss was lacerated; one patch of weeds was stained crimson.

I suppose the first three shots I heard was when the hunter flushed his quarry and wounded it.

Bleak darkness was blacking out the sea and jungle when Rainsford sighted the lights.

But as he forged along he saw to his great astonishment that all the lights were in one enormous building--a lofty structure with pointed towers plunging upward into the gloom.

His eyes made out the shadowy outlines of a palatial chateau; it was set on a high bluff, and on three sides of it cliffs dived down to where the sea licked greedy lips in the shadows.

His eyes made out the shadowy outlines of a palatial chateau; it was set on a high bluff, and on three sides of it cliffs dived down to where the sea licked greedy lips in the shadows.

"Mirage," thought Rainsford.

The first thing Rainsford's eyes discerned was the largest man Rainsford had ever seen--a gigantic creature, solidly made and black bearded to the waist.

In a cultivated voice marked by a slight accent that gave it added precision and deliberateness, he said, "It is a very great pleasure and honor to welcome Mr. Sanger Rainsford, the celebrated hunter, to my home."

He was a tall man past middle age, for his hair was a vivid white; but his thick eyebrows and pointed military mustache were as black as the night from which Rainsford had come.

There was a medieval magnificence about it; it suggested a baronial hall of feudal times with its oaken panels, its high ceiling, its vast refectory tables where twoscore men could sit down to eat.

There was a medieval magnificence about it; it suggested a baronial hall of feudal times with its oaken panels, its high ceiling, its vast refectory tables where twoscore men could sit down to eat.

There was a medieval magnificence about it; it suggested a baronial hall of feudal times with its oaken panels, its high ceiling, its vast refectory tables where twoscore men could sit down to eat.

Half apologetically General Zaroff said, "We do our best to preserve the amenities of civilization here.

Please forgive any lapses.

He was finding the general a most thoughtful and affable host, a true cosmopolite.

Whenever he looked up from his plate he found the general studying him, appraising him narrowly.

"Hunting tigers ceased to interest me some years ago.

The general took from his pocket a gold cigarette case and offered his guest a long black cigarette with a silver tip; it was perfumed and gave off a smell like incense.

I think I may say, in all modesty, that I have done a rare thing.

He was a very rich man with a quarter of a million acres in the Crimea, and he was an ardent sportsman.

My whole life has been one prolonged hunt.

"After the debacle in Russia I left the country, for it was imprudent for an officer of the Czar to stay there.

"After the debacle in Russia I left the country, for it was imprudent for an officer of the Czar to stay there.

Many noble Russians lost everything.

As soon as I recovered I started for the Amazon to hunt jaguars, for I had heard they were unusually cunning.

"They were no match at all for a hunter with his wits about him, and a high-powered rifle.

The general smiled the quiet smile of one who has faced an obstacle and surmounted it with success.

Rainsford's bewilderment showed in his face.

"I wanted the ideal animal to hunt," explained the general.

"So I said, `What are the attributes of an ideal quarry?'

This is a grisly joke."

"Did not make me condone cold-blooded murder," finished Rainsford stiffly.

"How extraordinarily droll you are!" he said.

"One does not expect nowadays to find a young man of the educated class, even in America, with such a naive, and, if I may say so, mid-Victorian point of view.

Ah, well, doubtless you had Puritan ancestors.

I'll wager you'll forget your notions when you go hunting with me.

But I think I can show you that your scruples are quite ill founded."

"Precisely," said the general.

The general's left eyelid fluttered down in a wink.

A trace of anger was in the general's black eyes, but it was there for but a second; and he said, in his most pleasant manner, "Dear me, what a righteous young man you are!

I assure you I do not do the thing you suggest.

That would be barbarous.

A very inferior lot, I regret to say.

If my quarry eludes me for three whole days, he wins the game.

Invariably, Mr. Rainsford, invariably they choose the hunt."

Then he added, hastily: "I don't wish you to think me a braggart, Mr. Rainsford.

The lights from the windows sent a flickering illumination that made grotesque patterns on the courtyard below, and Rainsford could see moving about there a dozen or so huge black shapes; as they turned toward him, their eyes glittered greenly.

The lights of the chateau were out now, and it was dark and silent; but there was a fragment of sallow moon, and by its wan light he could see, dimly, the courtyard.

He was solicitous about the state of Rainsford's health.

He filled Rainsford's glass with venerable Chablis from a dusty bottle.

But may I not venture to suggest that you will find my idea of sport more diverting than Ivan's?"

But may I not venture to suggest that you will find my idea of sport more diverting than Ivan's?"

He nodded toward the corner to where the giant stood, scowling, his thick arms crossed on his hogshead of chest.

Your strength and stamina against mine.

The deplorable part of it was that Lazarus followed him.

Under one arm he carried khaki hunting clothes, a haversack of food, a leather sheath containing a long-bladed hunting knife; his right hand rested on a cocked revolver thrust in the crimson sash about his waist.

He saw that straight flight was futile; inevitably it would bring him face to face with the sea.

He saw that straight flight was futile; inevitably it would bring him face to face with the sea.

He executed a series of intricate loops; he doubled on his trail again and again, recalling all the lore of the fox hunt, and all the dodges of the fox.

Night found him leg-weary, with hands and face lashed by the branches, on a thickly wooded ridge.

He knew it would be insane to blunder on through the dark, even if he had the strength.

Even so zealous a hunter as General Zaroff could not trace him there, he told himself; only the devil himself could follow that complicated trail through the jungle after dark.

An apprehensive night crawled slowly by like a wounded snake and sleep did not visit Rainsford, although the silence of a dead world was on the jungle.

Toward morning when a dingy gray was varnishing the sky, the cry of some startled bird focused Rainsford's attention in that direction.

Then he straightened up and took from his case one of his black cigarettes; its pungent incenselike smoke floated up to Rainsford's nostrils.

Very deliberately he blew a smoke ring into the air; then he turned his back on the tree and walked carelessly away, back along the trail he had come.

The general could follow a trail through the woods at night; he could follow an extremely difficult trail; he must have uncanny powers; only by the merest chance had the Cossack failed to see his quarry.

Rainsford did not want to believe what his reason told him was true, but the truth was as evident as the sun that had by now pushed through the morning mists.

Three hundred yards from his hiding place he stopped where a huge dead tree leaned precariously on a smaller, living one.

So intent was the Cossack on his stalking that he was upon the thing Rainsford had made before he saw it.

His foot touched the protruding bough that was the trigger.

His foot touched the protruding bough that was the trigger.

Even as he touched it, the general sensed his danger and leaped back with the agility of an ape.

Then he cowered back.

That was postponing the inevitable.

Straining his eyes, he saw the lean figure of General Zaroff; just ahead of him Rainsford made out another figure whose wide shoulders surged through the tall jungle weeds; it was the giant Ivan, and he seemed pulled forward by some unseen force; Rainsford knew that Ivan must be holding the pack in leash.

His mind worked frantically.

He thought of a native trick he had learned in Uganda.

The baying of the hounds stopped abruptly, and Rainsford's heart stopped too.

The knife, driven by the recoil of the springing tree, had not wholly failed.

The knife, driven by the recoil of the springing tree, had not wholly failed.

One of us is to furnish a repast for the hounds.