curious dread of the place. I don't know why. Some superstition--" "Can't see it,"

 We were getting closer to the island as  "What I felt was a--a mental chill; a sort of sudden dread." I always trust my feeling. "One superstitious sailor can taint the whole ship's company with his fear." 

 

 

yacht swiftly through the darkness, and the swish and ripple of the wash of the propeller. "As I was sitting there dozing off I heard a sound that startled me.A gunshot was what i heard and again it went off. I ran up on the rail to get a better view of where the shot came from.As I was looking my pipe fell out of my mouth,I reached for it.... "a short, hoarse cry came from his lips as he realized he had reached too far and had lost his 

balance. The cry was pinched off short as the 
blood-warm waters of the Caribbean Sea dosed over his head."  I cryed out and tried to get back on the yacht but the waves were to strong and the yacht slapped me in the face.I begin having a hard time breathing.....

 

  

He did not recognize the animal that made the sound; he did not try to; with fresh vitality he swam toward the sound."I heard the shots again so i swam towards them in luck of maybe finding land or food.After swimming for a few minutes I started to see rocks so I swam towards them.I climbed the rocks and finally reached a flat place on top of them,as I could barley keep my eyes open I went to sleep.

 

given him new vigor; a sharp hunger was picking at him. He looked about him, almost cheerfully. 

"Where there are pistol shots, there are men. Where 

there are men, there is food, he thought. But what kind 

of men, he wondered, in so forbidding a place? An
  unbroken front of snarled and ragged jungle fringed the 

shore. As i was walking through the woods "when he opened the tall spiked iron gate. The 

stone steps were real enough; the massive door with 

a leering gargoyle for a knocker was real enough; yet 

above it all hung an air of unreality. " I lifted the knocker and a man opened the door pointing a revolver at my head."I'm Sanger Rainsford of New York," "I fell off a yacht. I am hungry." He introduced me and told me his name was General Zaroff,Me and him talked for a while.He seemed like a very awkward man and did some very weird things.As he told me he was also a hunter but got bored of hunting animals and hunts humans now.I now knew his plan for me was to hunt and try to kill me.

food, a knife. I suggest you wear moccasins; they leave 

a poorer trail. I suggest, too, that you avoid the big 

swamp in the southeast corner of the island. We call it Death Swamp. There's quicksand there. One foolish 

fellow tried it. "I will be supplyed with stuff and i have a lot of confidence that I will be able to survive.He gave me a trail to follow and now the game begun. I had not had time to think about where to hide.Rainsford held his breath. "The general's eyes had left the ground and were traveling inch by inch up the tree. 

Rainsford froze there, every muscle tensed for a spring. But the sharp eyes of the hunter stopped before they 

reached the limb where Rainsford lay; a smile spread

 over his brown face. 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." He saw me and smiled,Why? Why did'nt he shoot me?" He slid down from the tree, and struck off again into the woods. His face was set and he forced the 

machinery of his mind to function. Three hundred yard

s from his hiding place he stopped where a huge dead 

tree leaned precariously on a smaller, living one. Thro

wing off his sack of food, Rainsford took his knife 

from its sheath and began to work with all his energy."As i was walking I heard "heard the padding sound of feet on the soft earth, and the night breeze 

brought him the perfume of the general's cigarette. It seemed to Rainsford that the general was coming with 

unusual swiftness; he was not feeling his way along, f

oot by foot. Rainsford, crouching there, could not see 

the general, nor could he see the pit. He lived a year in a minute. Then he felt an impulse to cry aloud with 

joy, for he heard the sharp crackle of the breaking branches as the cover of the pit gave way; he heard the 

sharp scream of pain as the pointed stakes found their mark. He leaped up from his place of concealment. 

Then he cowered back. Three feet from the pit a man was standing, with an electric torch in his hand." I could see the general Zaroff at a dining hall at a place over the sea."A man, who had been hiding in the curtains of the bed, was standing there. 

"Rainsford!" screamed the general. "How in God's name did you get here?" 

"Swam," said Rainsford. "I found it quicker than walking through the jungle." 
The general congratulated me and told me I won the game."Rainsford did not smile. "I am still a beast at bay," he said, in a low, hoarse voice. "Get ready, General 

Zaroff." 

The general made one of his deepest bows. "I see," he said. "Splendid! One of us is to furnish a repast for the 

hounds. The other will sleep in this very excellent bed. On guard, Rainsford." . . . 

He had never slept in a better bed, Rainsford decided."I had won the game and killed Zaroff