The Most Dangerous Game - by Richard Connell.
When I first read this title, thought this story was going to be about hockey or football, or maybe even about jaguars or grizzlies as game for hunters. But before I had read very far, I knew exactly what the author meant by The Most Dangerous Game.
The stories plot takes place on the Ship-Trap Island, a desolate island named and commonly feared by sailors for its legends of sailors who had accidentally gotten trapped there. Sanger Rainsford, the main character, falls off his ship one misty evening and wakes up on the Island. Alone and cold, he explores hoping to find any sign of his ship or his crew. Eventually he comes across al large structure with many lights. " A lofty structure with pointed towers plunging upward into the gloom." He knocks on the door and an extremely large man holding a revolver answers him. Out of pure fear, Sanger explains his current situation and asks for some food. The extremely large man leads him to the owner of the house, General Zaroff, a well-educated Russian who has a passion for hunting. He is the exciting force of the story. .
Sanger stays with the General and they begin to feel comfortable around each other. One evening at dinner, Zaroff explains his hunting fetish in detail. He tells Rainsford that he began to grow tired with hunting animals and a couple years ago he decided to find a new type of prey. He explains that this type of hunt gives him the greatest pleasures and cannot be compared to any other specie in the world. Rainsford quickly picks up that the General is implying that he love to hunt humans and he becomes very fearful. He then explains that he is tired of hunting illiterate war refugees, and is interested in playing with Rainsford. The rules are this: Rainsford will be given a knife, a sack of food and a three-hour head start. If the general cannot hunt him in three days, Rainsford is free to leave.
