Rainsford knew now how an animal at bay feels.

He lived a year in a minute.

if you are within sound of my voice, as I suppose you are, let me congratulate you. Not many men know how to make a Malay mancatcher. Luckily for me I, too, have hunted in Malacca. You are proving interesting, Mr. Rainsford. I am going now to have my wound dressed; it's only a slight one. But I shall be back. I shall be back."

"I will not lose my nerve. I will not."

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 delibe

only the devil himself could follow that complicated trail through the jungle after dark. But perhaps the general was a devil—

He saw the dead black eyes of the general on him, studying him.

I wish to go today," said Rainsford. He saw the dead black eyes of the general on him, studying him. General Zaroff's face suddenly brightened.He filled Rainsford's glass with venerable Chablis from a dusty bottle."Tonight," said the general, "we will hunt—you and I."Rainsford shook his head. "No, general," he said. "I will not hunt."The general shrugged his shoulders and delicately ate a hothouse grape. "As you wish, my friend," he said. "The choice rests entirely with you. But may I not venture to suggest that you will find my idea of sport more diverting than Ivan's?"

"Life is for the strong, to be lived by the strong, and, if needs be, taken by the strong. The weak of the world were put here to give the strong pleasure. I am strong. Why should I not use my gift? If I wish to hunt, why should I not? I hunt the scum of the earth: sailors from tramp ships—lassars, blacks, Chinese, whites, mongrels—a thoroughbred horse or hound is worth more than a score of them

This island is called Ship Trap," he answered.

"I wanted the ideal animal to hunt," explained the general. "So I said, `What are the attributes of an ideal quarry?' And the answer was, of course, `It must have courage, cunning, and, above all, it must be able to reason."'"But no animal can reason," objected Rainsford."My dear fellow," said the general, "there is one that can.""But you can't mean—" gasped Rainsford."And why not?""I can't believe you are serious, General Zaroff. This is a grisly joke.""Why should I not be serious? I am speaking of hunting.""Hunting? Great Guns, General Zaroff, what you speak of is murder."

The general smiled the quiet smile of one who has faced an obstacle and surmounted it with success. "I had to invent a new animal to hunt," he said.

here is no greater bore than perfection.

They were no match at all for a hunter with his wits about him, and a high-powered rifle. I was bitterly disappointed. I was lying in my tent with a splitting headache one night when a terrible thought pushed its way into my mind. Hunting was beginning to bore me! And hunting, remember, had been my life. I have heard that in America businessmen often go to pieces when they give up the business that has been their life."

Oh, it isn't here naturally, of course. I have to stock the island."

nd his smile showed red lips and pointed teeth

but his thick eyebrows and pointed military mustache were as black as the night from which Rainsford had come

I've read your book about hunting snow leopards in Tibet, you see," explained the man. "I am General Zaroff."

My name is Sanger Rainsford of New York City.

Mirage

A twenty-two," he remarked.

crimson

"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

coolheadedness

There was no sound in the night as Rainsford sat there but the muffled throb of the engine that drove the yacht swiftly through the darkness, and the swish and ripple of the wash of the propeller.

"Maybe. But sometimes I think sailors have an extra sense that tells them when they are in danger. Sometimes I think evil is a tangible thing—with wave lengths, just as sound and light have. An evil place can, so to speak, broadcast vibrations of evil. Anyhow, I'm glad we're getting out of this zone. Well, I think I'll turn in now, Rainsford."

The sea was as flat as a plate-glass window.

his place has an evil name among seafaring men, sir.' Then he said to me, very gravely, 'Don't you feel anything?'—as if the air about us was actually poisonous. Now, you mustn't laugh when I tell you this—I did feel something like a sudden chill.

Even Captain Nielsen—"

"Perhaps the jaguar does," observed Whitney."Bah! They've no understanding.""Even so, I rather think they understand one thing—fear. The fear of pain and the fear of death.""Nonsense," laughed Rainsford. "This hot weather is making you soft, Whitney. Be a realist.

"Even so, I rather think they understand one thing—fear. The fear of pain and the fear of death."

We should make it in a few days. I hope the jaguar guns have come from Purdey's. We should have some good hunting up the Amazon. Great sport, hunting."

It will be light enough in Rio," promised Whitney

ressed its thick warm blackness in upon the yacht.

Ship-Trap Island,'"

Off there to the right—somewhere—is a large island," said Whitney." It's rather a mystery—""What island is it?" Rainsford asked.