The Most Dangerous Game 16

“What do you mean?” “We’ll visit my training school,” smiled the general. “It’s in thecellar. I have about a dozen pupils down there now. They’re from theSpanish bark San Lucar that had the bad luck to go on the rocks outthere. A very inferior lot, I regret to say. Poor specimens and moreaccustomed to the deck than to the jungle.” He raised his hand, andIvan, who served as waiter, brought thick Turkish coffee. Rainsford,with an effort, held his tongue in check. “It’s a game, you see,” pursued the general blandly. “I suggest to oneof them that we go hunting. I give him a supply of food and an excellenthunting knife. I give him three hours’ start. I am to follow, armed onlywith a pistol of the smallest caliber and range. If my quarry eludes mefor three whole days, he wins the game. If I find him “–the generalsmiled–” he loses.” “Suppose he refuses to be hunted?” “Oh,” said the general, “I give him his option, of course. He need notplay that game if he doesn’t wish to. If he does not wish to hunt, Iturn him over to Ivan. Ivan once had the honor of serving as officialknouter to the Great White Czar, and he has his own ideas of sport.Invariably, Mr. Rainsford, invariably they choose the hunt.” “And if they win?”