The Most Dangerous Game Page #2

A- Assume a cheerfulness

you may not feel.

- Why, sure. Of course.

- Thank you.

Miss Trowbridge, may I present

Mr. Robert Rainsford.

- Miss Eve Trowbridge.

- How do you do?

- How do you do?

- And her brother, Mr. Martin Trowbridge.

How are you, old chap?

Pretty well shaken up, I guess, huh?

- Coming out of it now, thanks.

- We know how it feels, don't we, Eve?

Indeed we do.

Perhaps Mr. Rainsford would like

some hot coffee.

Oh, yes, of course.

Mr. Rainsford, please sit here.

Vodka, that's the stuff!

One shot'll dry you out quicker

than all the coffee in Java.

Have to toss it off, though.

Like this.

Now, Martin, you don't have

to drink it all tonight, do you?

Don't be ridiculous, sis.

We are victims of circumstance.

Same as Mr. Rainsford.

And if anyone has a right to his liquor,

it's a victim of circumstance.

- Isn't that so, Count?

- Of course, yes.

- You were in a shipwreck too?

- Yes.

Our lifeboat

was the only one saved...

my brother and I

and two sailors.

The count found us on the beach with

nothing but the clothes on our backs.

Those channel lights

must have been shifted.

- I wonder it hasn't been reported.

- Well, we'll report 'em...

just as soon as we get back

to the mainland.

You see, the count

has only one launch...

and that's under repair.

Russians are not

the best mechanics.

I'm afraid we'll have to be patient

a few days longer.

It's all right with me. I feel as if I

were living on borrowed time right now.

Speaking of that,

perhaps now you'll tell us...

a little bit

about who you are.

Just sketchily, you know...

born, married, why I left my last job.

No, no, no, no.

One moment, please.

Mr. Rainsford need never explain

who he is in my house.

We entertain a celebrity,

Miss Trowbridge.

Wait a minute, wait a minute.

Don't tell me. Let me guess.

I know. Flagpole sitter.

- I know. He wrote some books.

- No, he lived some books.

If I am not mistaken,

this is Mr. Robert Rainsford...

who hunts big game

so adventurously.

Yeah? Here's to ya.

- I've lugged a gun around a little.

- "I've lugged a gun around a little. "

No, I have read your books.

I read all books on hunting.

- A papiroso?

- Thank you.

Only in yours have I found

a sane point of view.

- What do you mean, "sane"?

- Cigarette?

- Hmm? Yeah. Thanks.

- You do not excuse what needs no excuse.

Let me see.

How did you put it?

"Hunting is as much a game

as stud poker...

only the limits are higher. "

- You have put our case perfectly.

- Then you're a hunter yourself?

We are kindred spirits.

It is my one passion.

He sleeps all day

and hunts all night.

And what's more, Rainsford,

he'll have you doing the same thing.

We'll have capital sport together,

I hope.

Don't encourage him.

He's had our two sailors so busy...

chasing around the woods

after flora and fauna...

that we haven't

seen them for three days.

But what do you hunt here?

I'll tell you.

You will be amused, I know.

I have done a rare thing.

I have invented

a new sensation.

Yeah, and is he stingy with it.

What is this sensation, Count?

Mr. Rainsford,

God made some men poets.

Some He made kings,

some beggars.

Me, He made a hunter.

My hand was made for the trigger,

my father told me.

He was a very rich man...

with a quarter of a million acres

in the Crimea, and an ardent sportsman.

When I was only still up high

he gave me my first gun.

- Good for him.

- My life has been one glorious hunt.

It would be impossible for me to tell

you how many animals I have killed.

- But when the revolution...

- Look out.

Oh, I'm so sorry.

Count Zaroff

was so interesting...

I didn't realize the danger.

Oh, it's all right now. What were you

saying about the revolution, Count?

Oh, merely that I escaped

with most of my fortune.

Naturally, I continued to hunt

all over the world.

It was in Africa that the Cape buffalo

gave me this.

That must have been a close call.

Yes. It still bothers me

sometimes.

However, in two months

I was on my way to the Amazon.

I'd heard that the jaguars there

were unusually cunning.

No, no, no.

No sport at all.

Well, conditions

are bad everywhere these days.

One night, as I lay in my tent

with this...

this head of mine...

a terrible thought crept like a snake

into my brain.

Hunting was beginning

to bore me.

Is that such a terrible thought,

Count?

It is, my dear lady, when hunting has

been the whip for all other passions.

When I lost

my love of hunting...

I lost my love of life...

of love.

Well, you seem to have

stood it pretty well.

I even tried to sink myself

to the level of the savage.

I made myself perfect in the use

of the Tartar war bow.

Tartar which?

Tartar war bow...

That one up there.

It's cute.

Even to this day I prefer

to hunt with it...

but alas,

even that was too deadly.

What I needed

was not a new weapon...

but a new animal.

- A new animal?

- Exactly so.

You found one?

Yes.

Here on my island...

I hunt

the most dangerous game.

"The most dangerous game"?

You mean tigers?

Tigers?

No.

The tiger has nothing

but his claws and his fangs.

I heard some queer beast howling back

there along the water. Was that it?

It's no use, Rainsford.

He won't tell.

He won't even let you see

his trophy room...

till he gets ready to take you

on a hunt of the great whatsit.

My one secret. I keep it

as a surprise for my guests...

against the rainy day

of boredom.

You let me in on that game...

and I'll bet you

I go for it.

You know, Rainsford,

he hasn't failed yet.

If he says a thing is good,

it is good.

He's a judge of liquor,

wizard at contract...

plays the piano...

anything you want.

He's a good host

and a good scholar, eh, Count?

Yes, yes.

You want me to go hunting?

You just say the word. We're pals.

We'll have a big party,

get cockeyed and go hunting.

A completely civilized

point of view.

I tell you what you do. You come

to my place in the Adirondacks, see.

We'll have a private car,

liquor and gals on the trip...

and the guides

will make the deers behave.

I think we'd better

change the subject.

All right.

Change the subject.

Oh, I know!

Play the piano, huh?

If you wish.

Good idea. Play the piano.

Leave it to me, and I'll fix everything.

Perhaps the count

doesn't want to play.

There you go, sis,

throwing cold water.

Leave me alone.

I know where the piano is.

I'm perfectly sober.

Charming simplicity.

"Completely civilized,"

did you say?

He talks of wine and women

as a prelude to the hunt.

We barbarians know

that it is after the chase...

and then only

that man revels.

It does seem a bit

like cocktails before breakfast.

Of course, yes. You know the saying

of the Ugandi chieftains...

"Hunt first the enemy,

then the woman. "

That's the savages' idea

everywhere.

It is the natural instinct.

What is woman...

even such a woman as this...

until the blood is quickened

by the kill?

- Oh, I don't know.

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