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Program Consultants
Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, PhD
Douglas Fisher, PhD
Kathleen A. Hinchman, PhD
David O’Brien, PhD
Taffy Raphael, PhD
Cynthia Hynd Shanahan, EdD
Copyright © 2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Except as
permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may
be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or
retrieval system, without prior permission of the publisher.

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under license.

Send all inquiries to:

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Printed in the United States of America.

 Contents *

1 The Lady, or the Tiger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 22 The Stolen Cigar Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Frank R. Stockton Bret Harte
2 The Most Dangerous Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 23 The Open Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 .
Richard Connell Saki
3 The Leap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 24 The Californian's Tale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Louise Erdrih Mark Twain
4 The Cask of Amontillado . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 25 The Summer People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Edgar Allan Poe Shirley Jackson
5 Blues Ain't No Mockin Bird . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 26 The Masque of the Red Death . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Toni Cade Bambara Edgar Allan Poe
6 The Interlopers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 27 Two Kinds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Saki Amy Tan
7 Rules of the Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 28 The Car We Had to Push . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Amy Tan James Thurber
8 The Gift of the Magi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 29 When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine . . . . . . . . . 213
O. Henry Jhumpa Lahiri
9 Liberty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 30 To Da-duh, in Memoriam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
Julia Alvarez Paule Marshall
10 Sweet Potato Pie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 31 Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket . . . . . 236
Eugenia Collier Jack Finney
11 The Scarlet Ibis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 32 The Censors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
James Hurst Luisa Valenzuela
12 The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant . . . . 89 33 Everyday Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
W. D. Wetherell Alice Walker
13 A Christmas Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 34 Through the Tunnel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
Truman Capote Doris Lessing
14 The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. . . . . . . . . . . .108 35 Catch the Moon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
James Thurber Judith Ortiz Cofer
15 American History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 36 A Child's Christmas in Wales . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
Judith Ortiz Cofer Dylan Thomas
16 Baker's Bluejay Yarn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 37 Winter Night . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Mark Twain Kay Boyle
17 The Flat of the Land . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 38 Lullaby . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
Diana García Leslie Marmon Silko
18 The Son from America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 39 A Sound of Thunder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
Isaac Bashevis Singer Ray Bradbury
19 Beyond the Bedroom Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 40 By the Waters of Babylon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
Larry Woiwode Stephen Vincent Benét
20 About Two Nice People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 41 What I Have Been Doing Lately . . . . . . . . . . 323
Shirley Jackson Jamaica Kincaid
21 The Rule of Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 42 Robot Dreams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
Ursula K. Le Guin Isaac Asimov

* Titles or authors here and in the body of the book are interrelatedly linked.
 Contents

43 Bread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330 59 Soldiers of the Republic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463

Margaret Atwood Dorothy Parker
44 A Retrieved Reformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332 60 The Jilting of Granny Weatherall . . . . . . . . . 466
O. Henry Katherine Anne Porter
45 Lungewater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339 . 61 Breakfast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473
Joan Aiken John Steinbeck
46 The Devil and Tom Walker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352 62 A Rose for Emily. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476
Washington Irving William Faulkner
47 The Pit and the Pendulum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361 63 A Worn Path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484
Edgar Allan Poe Eudora Welty
48 The Minister's Black Veil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371 64 The Life You Save May Be Your Own . . . 490
Nathaniel Hawthorne Flannery O’Connor
49 An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge . . . . . 380 65 The Second Tree from the Corner . . . . . . . . 498
Ambrose Bierce E. B. White
50 The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County 388 66 The Magic Barrel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502
Mark Twain Bernard Malamud
51 The Outcasts of Poker Flat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393 67 The Rockpile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515
Bret Harte James Baldwin
52 A Wagner Matinée . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402 68 The Portrait . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 522
Willa Cather Tomás Rivera
53 April Showers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407 69 Ambush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525
Edith Wharton Tim O’Brien
54 The Story of an Hour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413 70 SQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527
Kate Chopin Ursula K. Le Guin
55 The Open Boat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416 71 Snow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536
Stephen Crane Julia Alvarez
56 To Build a Fire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432 72 Everything Stuck to Him . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537
Jack London Raymond Carver
57 In Another Country . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443 73 Salvador Late or Early . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541
Ernest Hemingway Sandra Cisneros
58 Winter Dreams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448 74 Nineteen Thirty-Seven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 542
F. Scott Fitzgerald Edwidge Danticat
 Frank R. Stockton

I n the very olden time, there lived

a semibarbaric king, whose ideas, though
for nothing pleased him so much as to make
the crooked straight, and crush down uneven
somewhat polished and sharpened by the places.
progressiveness of distant Latin neighbors, Among the borrowed notions by which
were still large, florid, and untrammeled,1 his barbarism had become semified3 was
as became the half of him which was bar- that of the public arena, in which, by exhibi-
baric. He was a man of exuberant fancy, tions of manly and beastly valor, the minds
and, withal, of an authority so irresistible of his subjects were refined and cultured.
that, at his will, he turned his varied fancies But even here the exuberant and barbaric
into facts. He was greatly given to self- fancy asserted itself.4 The arena of the king
communing; and, when he and himself was built, not to give the people an oppor-
agreed upon any thing, the thing was done. tunity of hearing the rhapsodies5 of dying
When every member of his domestic and gladiators, nor to enable them to view the
political systems moved smoothly in its inevitable conclusion of a conflict between
appointed course, his nature was bland and religious opinions and hungry jaws, but for
genial;2 but whenever there was a little purposes far better adapted to widen and
hitch, and some of his orbs got out of their
orbits, he was blander and more genial still,
3. Semified is a made-up word meaning “reduced in half or
made partial.”
4. Here, asserted itself means “exercised its influence; insisted
1. The king’s ideas are somewhat uncivilized (semibarbaric); on being recognized.”
they are very showy (florid) and unrestrained 5. Rhapsodies are enthusiastic expressions of emotion.
(untrammeled).
2. The king himself is generally agreeable and mild (bland) and Literary Element Conflict How does this passage sug-
pleasantly cheerful (genial). gest a future conflict?

1
develop the mental energies of the people. If he opened the one, there came out of it a
This vast amphitheater, with its encircling hungry tiger, the fiercest and most cruel that
galleries, its mysterious vaults, and its could be procured, which immediately sprang
unseen passages, was an agent of poetic jus- upon him, and tore him to pieces, as a punish-
tice, in which crime was punished, or virtue ment for his guilt. The moment that the case
rewarded, by the decrees of an impartial and of the criminal was thus decided, doleful iron
incorruptible chance. bells were clanged, great wails went up from
When a subject was accused of a crime of the hired mourners posted on the outer rim of
sufficient importance to interest the king, the arena, and the vast audience, with bowed
public notice was given that on an appointed heads and downcast hearts, wended slowly
day the fate of the accused person would be their homeward way, mourning greatly that
decided in the king’s arena,—a structure one so young and fair, or so old and respected,
which well deserved its name; for, although should have merited so dire a fate.
its form and plan were borrowed from afar, But, if the accused person opened the
its purpose emanated solely from the brain other door, there came forth from it a lady,
of this man, who, every barleycorn6 a king, the most suitable to his years and station
knew no tradition to which he owed more that his majesty could select among his fair
allegiance than pleased his fancy, and who subjects; and to this lady he was immedi-
ingrafted on every adopted form of human ately married, as a reward of his innocence.
thought and action the rich growth of his It mattered not that he might already pos-
barbaric idealism. sess a wife and family, or that his affections
When all the people had assembled in the might be engaged upon an object of his
galleries, and the king, surrounded by his own selection: the king allowed no such
court, sat high up on his throne of royal state subordinate arrangements to interfere with
on one side of the arena, he gave a signal, a his great scheme of retribution and reward.8
door beneath him opened, and the accused The exercises, as in the other instance, took
subject stepped out into the amphitheater.7 place immediately, and in the arena. Another
Directly opposite him, on the other side of the door opened beneath the king, and a priest,
enclosed space, were two doors, exactly alike followed by a band of choristers, and danc-
and side by side. It was the duty and the priv- ing maidens blowing joyous airs on golden
ilege of the person on trial, to walk directly to horns and treading an epithalamic measure,
these doors and open one of them. He could advanced to where the pair stood, side by
open either door he pleased: he was subject to side; and the wedding was promptly and
no guidance or influence but that of the afore- cheerily solemnized.9 Then the gay brass
mentioned impartial and incorruptible chance. bells rang forth their merry peals, the peo-
ple shouted glad hurrahs, and the innocent

6. The barleycorn is an old unit of measure equal to the width

of one grain of barley—about a third of an inch. This phrase 8. The king’s plan for giving out punishment (retribution) and
is similar to “every inch a king” and means that he was reward was of primary importance, and everything else was
kingly in every way and in every part, top to bottom. less important (subordinate), including family values.
7. An amphitheater is a circular structure with rising tiers of 9. Epithalamic (ep´ ə thə lā
mik) refers to a song in honor
seats around a central open space. of a bride and groom. When a wedding is solemnized, it is
celebrated with a formal ceremony.
Literary Element Conflict Based on this passage, what
Big Idea Matters of Life and Death What do these
do you think the main conflict will be?
details suggest about the people’s view of death and
Vocabulary mourning?

impartial (im p
ar
shəl) adj. not favoring one side more
than another; fair Vocabulary

emanate (em
 ə nāt´) v. to come forth dire (d¯r) adj. dreadful; terrible

2
man, preceded by children strewing flowers station common to the conventional heroes of
on his path, led his bride to his home. romance who love royal maidens. This royal
This was the king’s semibarbaric method maiden was well satisfied with her lover, for
of administering justice. Its perfect fairness is he was handsome and brave to a degree
obvious. The criminal could not know out of unsurpassed in all this kingdom; and she
which door would come the lady: he opened loved him with an ardor12 that had enough
either he pleased, without having the slight- of barbarism in it to make it exceedingly
est idea whether, in the next instant, he was warm and strong. This love affair moved on
to be devoured or married. On some occa- happily for many months, until one day the
sions the tiger came out of one door, and on king happened to discover its existence. He
some out of the other. The decisions of this did not hesitate nor waver in regard to his
tribunal were not only fair, they were posi- duty in the premises. The youth was immedi-
tively determinate:10 the accused person was ately cast into prison, and a day was
instantly punished if he found himself appointed for his trial in the king’s arena.
guilty; and, if innocent, he was rewarded on This, of course, was an especially important
the spot, whether he liked it or not. There occasion; and his majesty, as well as all the
was no escape from the judgments of the people, was greatly interested in the work-
king’s arena. ings and development of this trial. Never
The institution was a very popular one. before had such a case occurred; never before
When the people gathered together on one had a subject dared to love the daughter of a
of the great trial days, they never knew king. In after-years such things became com-
whether they were to witness a bloody monplace enough; but then they were, in no
slaughter or a hilarious wedding. This ele- slight degree, novel and startling.
ment of uncertainty lent an interest to the The tiger-cages of the kingdom were
occasion which it could not otherwise have searched for the most savage and relentless
attained. Thus, the masses were entertained beasts, from which the fiercest monster might
and pleased, and the thinking part of the be selected for the arena; and the ranks of
community could bring no charge of unfair- maiden youth and beauty throughout the land
ness against this plan; for did not the were carefully surveyed by competent judges,
accused person have the whole matter in his in order that the young man might have a fit-
own hands? ting bride in case fate did not determine for
This semibarbaric king had a daughter as him a different destiny. Of course, everybody
blooming as his most florid fancies, and with knew that the deed with which the accused
a soul as fervent and imperious11 as his own. was charged had been done. He had loved the
As is usual in such cases, she was the apple princess, and neither he, she, nor any one else
of his eye, and was loved by him above all thought of denying the fact; but the king
humanity. Among his courtiers was a young would not think of allowing any fact of this
man of that fineness of blood and lowness of kind to interfere with the workings of the tri-
bunal, in which he took such great delight and
10. Usually, tribunal refers to a group of judges or a place of satisfaction. No matter how the affair turned
judgment. Here, it is “the king’s semibarbaric method of out, the youth would be disposed of; and the
administering justice,” and its outcome is absolutely final king would take an aesthetic pleasure in
(determinate).
11. To be imperious is to be extremely proud and controlling.
12. Ardor means intense passion.
Reading Strategy Summarizing Summarize the king’s
Big Idea Matters of Life and Death How does this pas-
“semibarbaric method of administering justice.”
sage reflect matters of life and death?

Vocabulary
Vocabulary
fervent (fur
vənt) adj. having or showing great inten-
sity of feeling; passionate novel (nov
əl) adj. new and unusual

3
 princess loved him! What a
terrible thing for him to be
there!
As the youth advanced into
the arena, he turned, as the
custom was, to bow to the
king: but he did not think at
all of that royal personage; his
eyes were fixed upon the prin-
cess, who sat to the right of
her father. Had it not been for
the moiety13 of barbarism in
her nature, it is probable that
lady would not have been
there; but her intense and
fervid soul would not allow
her to be absent on an occa-
sion in which she was so ter-
ribly interested. From the
moment that the decree had
gone forth, that her lover
should decide his fate in the
king’s arena, she had thought
of nothing, night or day, but
this great event and the vari-
ous subjects connected with it.
Mona Vanna, 1866. Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Oil on canvas, 88.9 ⫻ 86.4 cm. Tate
Possessed of more power,
Gallery, London. influence, and force of charac-
Viewing the Art: How would you describe this woman’s personality? ter than any one who had
ever before been interested in
watching the course of events, which would such a case, she had done what no other per-
determine whether or not the young man had son had done—she had possessed herself of
done wrong in allowing himself to love the the secret of the doors. She knew in which of
princess. the two rooms, that lay behind those doors,
The appointed day arrived. From far and stood the cage of the tiger, with its open
near the people gathered, and thronged the front, and in which waited the lady. Through
great galleries of the arena; and crowds, these thick doors, heavily curtained with
unable to gain admittance, massed themselves skins on the inside, it was impossible that
against its outside walls. The king and his any noise or suggestion should come from
court were in their places, opposite the twin within to the person who should approach to
doors,—those fateful portals, so terrible in raise the latch of one of them; but gold, and
their similarity. the power of a woman’s will, had brought
All was ready. The signal was given. A door the secret to the princess.
beneath the royal party opened, and the lover
of the princess walked into the arena. Tall,
beautiful, fair, his appearance was greeted
with a low hum of admiration and anxiety. 13. A moiety (moi
ə tē) means “a half.”
Half the audience had not known so grand a Literary Element Conflict How does this passage
youth had lived among them. No wonder the advance the central conflict of the story?

4
Stalking Tiger, Rosa Bonheur (1822–99). Private collection,
© Gavin Graham Gallery, London, UK; Bridgeman Art Library.

And not only did she know in which ancestors, she hated the woman who
room stood the lady ready to emerge, all blushed and trembled behind that silent
blushing and radiant, should her door be door.
opened, but she knew who the lady was. It When her lover turned and looked at her,
was one of the fairest and loveliest of the and his eye met hers as she sat there paler
damsels of the court who had been selected and whiter than any one in the vast ocean of
as the reward of the accused youth, should anxious faces about her, he saw, by that
he be proved innocent of the crime of aspir- power of quick perception which is given to
ing to one so far above him; and the princess those whose souls are one, that she knew
hated her. Often had she seen, or imagined behind which door crouched the tiger, and
that she had seen, this fair creature throwing behind which stood the lady. He had
glances of admiration upon the person of her expected her to know it. He understood her
lover, and sometimes she thought these nature, and his soul was assured that she
glances were perceived and even returned. would never rest until she had made plain
Now and then she had seen them talking to herself this thing, hidden to all other
together; it was but for a moment or two, lookers-on, even to the king. The only hope
but much can be said in a brief space; it may for the youth in which there was any
have been on most unimportant topics, but element of certainty was based upon the
how could she know that? The girl was success of the princess in discovering this
lovely, but she had dared to raise her eyes to
the loved one of the princess; and, with all Reading Strategy Summarizing Based on this passage,
the intensity of the savage blood transmitted how would you summarize the relationship between the
lovers?
to her through long lines of wholly barbaric

5
mystery; and the moment he looked upon reveries15 had she gnashed her teeth, and
her, he saw she had succeeded, as in his soul torn her hair, when she saw his start of rap-
he knew she would succeed. turous delight as he opened the door of the
Then it was that his quick and anxious lady! How her soul had burned in agony
glance asked the question: “Which?” It was when she had seen him rush to meet that
as plain to her as if he shouted it from where woman, with her flushing cheek and spar-
he stood. There was not an instant to be lost. kling eye of triumph; when she had seen
The question was asked in a flash; it must be him lead her forth, his whole frame kindled
answered in another. with the joy of recovered life; when she had
Her right arm lay on the cushioned para- heard the glad shouts from the multitude,
pet14 before her. She raised her hand, and and the wild ringing of the happy bells;
made a slight, quick movement toward the when she had seen the priest, with his joy-
right. No one but her lover saw her. Every ous followers, advance to the couple, and
eye but his was fixed on the man in the make them man and wife before her very
arena. eyes; and when she had seen them walk
He turned, and with a firm and rapid step away together upon their path of flowers,
he walked across the empty space. Every followed by the tremendous shouts of the
heart stopped beating, every breath was hilarious multitude, in which her one
held, every eye was fixed immovably upon despairing shriek was lost and drowned!
that man. Without the slightest hesitation, he Would it not be better for him to die at
went to the door on the right, and opened it. once, and go to wait for her in the blessed
regions of semibarbaric futurity?
Now, the point of the story is this: Did the And yet, that awful tiger, those shrieks,
tiger come out of that door, or did the lady? that blood.
The more we reflect upon this question, Her decision had been indicated in an
the harder it is to answer. It involves a study instant, but it had been made after days and
of the human heart which leads us through nights of anguished deliberation. She had
devious mazes of passion, out of which it is known she would be asked, she had decided
difficult to find our way. Think of it, fair what she would answer, and, without the
reader, not as if the decision of the question slightest hesitation, she had moved her hand
depended upon yourself, but upon that hot- to the right.
blooded, semibarbaric princess, her soul at a The question of her decision is one not to
white heat beneath the combined fires of be lightly considered, and it is not for me to
despair and jealousy. She had lost him, but presume16 to set myself up as the one person
who should have him? able to answer it. And so I leave it with all
How often, in her waking hours and in of you: Which came out of the opened door—
her dreams, had she started in wild horror, the lady, or the tiger?

and covered her face with her hands as she
thought of her lover opening the door on the
other side of which waited the cruel fangs of 15. Something that is grievous causes great grief or worry;
the tiger! reveries are daydreams.
But how much oftener had she seen him 16. Presume means “to take upon oneself without permission”
or “to dare.”
at the other door! How in her grievous
Big Idea Matters of Life and Death How does this pas-
sage suggest that the trial feels like a matter of life and
14. Here, the parapet is a low wall or railing around the royal
death for the princess?
“box seats.”

6
 Richard Connell

A Hunter in the Cuban Jungle, Sunrise, 1869. Henri Cleenewerck.

Oil on canvas, 96.8 ⫻ 82.5 cm. Private Collection.

O ff there to the right—somewhere—is a

large island,” said Whitney. “It’s rather a
Whitney. “We should make it in a few days.
I hope the jaguar guns have come from
mystery—” Purdey’s. We should have some good hunt-
“What island is it?” Rainsford asked. ing up the Amazon. Great sport, hunting.”
“The old charts call it ‘Ship-Trap Island’,” “The best sport in the world,” agreed
Whitney replied. “A suggestive name, isn’t Rainsford.
it? Sailors have a curious dread of the place. “For the hunter,” amended Whitney. “Not
I don’t know why. Some superstition—” for the jaguar.”
“Can’t see it,” remarked Rainsford, trying “Don’t talk rot, Whitney,” said Rainsford.
to peer through the dank tropical night that “You’re a big-game hunter, not a philosopher.
was palpable as it pressed its thick warm Who cares how a jaguar feels?”
blackness in upon the yacht. “Perhaps the jaguar does,” observed
“You’ve good eyes,” said Whitney, with a Whitney.
laugh, “and I’ve seen you pick off a moose “Bah! They’ve no understanding.”
moving in the brown fall bush at four hun- “Even so, I rather think they understand
dred yards, but even you can’t see four miles one thing—fear. The fear of pain and the fear
or so through a moonless Caribbean night.” of death.”
“Nor four yards,” admitted Rainsford.
“Ugh! It’s like moist black velvet.” Big Idea Matters of Life and Death What does
“It will be light enough in Rio,” promised Whitney’s statement suggest about his view of hunting?

7
 “Nonsense,” laughed Rainsford. “This hot are in danger. Sometimes I think evil is a
weather is making you soft, Whitney. Be a tangible thing—with wave lengths, just as
realist. The world is made up of two sound and light have. An evil place can, so to
classes—the hunters and the huntees. speak, broadcast vibrations of evil. Anyhow,
Luckily, you and I are hunters. Do I’m glad we’re getting out of this zone. Well,
you think we’ve passed that island yet?” I think I’ll turn in now, Rainsford.”
“I can’t tell in the dark. I hope so.” “I’m not sleepy,” said Rainsford. “I’m
“Why?” asked Rainsford. going to smoke another pipe up on the
“The place has a reputation—a bad one.” afterdeck.”
“Cannibals?” suggested Rainsford. “Good night, then, Rainsford. See you at
“Hardly. Even cannibals wouldn’t live in breakfast.”
such a God-forsaken place. But it’s gotten “Right. Good night, Whitney.”
into sailor lore,1 somehow. Didn’t you notice There was no sound in the night as
that the crew’s nerves seemed Rainsford sat there but the
a bit jumpy today?” muffled throb of the engine
“They were a bit strange, that drove the yacht swiftly
now you mention it. Even “Sometimes through the darkness, and the
Captain Nielsen—” I think evil swish and ripple of the wash
“Yes, even that tough- of the propeller.
minded old Swede, who’d go is a tangible Rainsford, reclining in a
up to the devil himself and ask steamer chair, indolently
him for a light. Those fishy
thing . . .” puffed on his favorite briar.2
blue eyes held a look I never The sensuous drowsiness of
saw there before. All I could the night was upon him. “It’s
get out of him was: ‘This place so dark,” he thought, “that I
has an evil name among seafar- could sleep without closing
ing men, sir.’ Then he said to me, very my eyes; the night would be my eyelids—”
gravely: ‘Don’t you feel anything?’—as if the An abrupt sound startled him. Off to the
air about us was actually poisonous. Now, right he heard it, and his ears, expert in
you mustn’t laugh when I tell you this—I did such matters, could not be mistaken. Again
feel something like a sudden chill. he heard the sound, and again. Somewhere,
“There was no breeze. The sea was as flat off in the blackness, someone had fired a
as a plate-glass window. We were drawing gun three times.
near the island then. What I felt was a—a Rainsford sprang up and moved quickly to
mental chill; a sort of sudden dread.” the rail, mystified. He strained his eyes in the
“Pure imagination,” said Rainsford. “One direction from which the reports had come,
superstitious sailor can taint the whole ship’s but it was like trying to see through a blanket.
company with his fear.” He leaped upon the rail and balanced himself
“Maybe. But sometimes I think sailors there, to get greater elevation; his pipe,
have an extra sense that tells them when they

2. Indolently means “lazily”; a briar is a tobacco pipe made from

1. Accumulated traditions and beliefs about a particular subject
the fine-grained wood of the root of a Mediterranean shrub.
are called lore.

Reading Strategy Making and Verifying Predictions Literary Element Suspense What words in this passage
About Plot What do you think will happen, and what clues increase your sense of unease?
help you make this prediction?
Vocabulary
Literary Element Suspense How does this statement tangible (tan

jə bəl) adj. capable of being touched or
generate suspense? felt

8
striking a rope, was knocked from his mouth. “Pistol shot,” muttered Rainsford, swim-
He lunged for it; a short, hoarse cry came ming on.
from his lips as he realized he had reached Ten minutes of determined effort brought
too far and had lost his balance. The cry was another sound to his ears—the most wel-
pinched off short as the blood-warm waters come he had ever heard—the muttering and
of the Caribbean Sea closed over his head. growling of the sea breaking on a rocky
He struggled up to the surface and tried to shore. He was almost on the rocks before he
cry out, but the wash from the speeding saw them; on a night less calm he would
yacht slapped him in the face and the salt have been shattered against them. With his
water in his open mouth made him gag and remaining strength he dragged himself
strangle. Desperately he struck out with from the swirling waters. Jagged crags
strong strokes after the receding lights of the appeared to jut up into the opaqueness;3 he
yacht, but he stopped before he had swum forced himself upward, hand over hand.
fifty feet. A certain cool-headedness had Gasping, his hands raw, he reached a flat
come to him; it was not the first time he had place at the top. Dense jungle came down to
been in a tight place. There was a chance the very edge of the cliffs. What perils that
that his cries could be heard by someone tangle of trees and underbrush might hold
aboard the yacht, but that chance was slen- for him did not concern Rainsford just then.
der, and grew more slender as the yacht All he knew was that he was safe from his
raced on. He wrestled himself out of his enemy, the sea, and that utter weariness
clothes, and shouted with all his power. The was upon him. He flung himself down at
lights of the yacht became faint and ever- the jungle edge and tumbled headlong into
vanishing fireflies; then they were blotted the deepest sleep of his life.
out entirely by the night. When he opened his eyes he knew from
Rainsford remembered the shots. They the position of the sun that it was late in the
had come from the right, and doggedly he afternoon. Sleep had given him new vigor; a
swam in that direction, swimming with sharp hunger was picking at him. He looked
slow, deliberate strokes, conserving his about him, almost cheerfully.
strength. For a seemingly endless time he “Where there are pistol shots, there are
fought the sea. He began to count his men. Where there are men, there is food,”
strokes; he could do possibly a hundred he thought. But what kind of men, he won-
more and then— dered, in so forbidding a place? An unbro-
Rainsford heard a sound. It came out of ken front of snarled and ragged jungle
the darkness, a high screaming sound, the fringed the shore.
sound of an animal in an extremity of He saw no sign of a trail through the
anguish and terror. closely knit web of weeds and trees; it was
He did not recognize the animal that easier to go along the shore, and Rainsford
made the sound; he did not try to; with fresh floundered along by the water. Not far from
vitality he swam toward the sound. He where he had landed, he stopped.
heard it again; then it was cut short by
another noise, crisp, staccato. 3. Crags are steep, rugged, protruding rocks or cliffs. Here,
the crags jut up into the darkness (opaqueness) of
the night.

Reading Strategy Making and Verifying Predictions Big Idea Matters of Life and Death Why does the
About Plot What do you think will happen to Rainsford? pistol shot stop the sound?

Literary Element Suspense What effect do these details Literary Element Suspense What does this detail add to
have on the plot? the suspense of the story?

9
 Some wounded thing, by the evidence, a spiked iron gate. The
large animal, had thrashed about in the stone steps were real
underbrush; the jungle weeds were crushed enough; the massive door
down and the moss was lacerated; one patch with a leering gargoyle
of weeds was stained crimson. A small, glit- for a knocker was real
tering object not far away caught Rainsford’s enough; yet above it all Visual Vocabulary
eye and he picked it up. It was an empty hung an air of unreality. A gargoyle is an
outlandish or gro-
cartridge. He lifted the knocker, tesque carved figure.
“A twenty-two,” he remarked. “That’s and it creaked up stiffly,
odd. It must have been a fairly large animal, as if it had never before
too. The hunter had his nerve with him to been used. He let it fall, and it startled him
tackle it with a light gun. It’s clear that the with its booming loudness. He thought he
brute put up a fight. I suppose the first three heard steps within; the door remained closed.
shots I heard was when the hunter flushed Again Rainsford lifted the heavy knocker, and
his quarry4 and wounded it. The last shot let it fall. The door opened then, opened as
was when he trailed it here and finished it.” suddenly as if it were on a spring, and
He examined the ground closely and found Rainsford stood blinking in the river of glar-
what he had hoped to find—the print of hunt- ing gold light that poured out. The first thing
ing boots. They pointed along the cliff in the Rainsford’s eyes discerned was the largest
direction he had been going. Eagerly he hur- man Rainsford had ever seen—a gigantic
ried along, now slipping on a rotten log or a creature, solidly made and black-bearded to
loose stone, but making headway; night was the waist. In his hand the man held a long-
beginning to settle down on the island. barreled revolver, and he was pointing it
Bleak darkness was blacking out the sea straight at Rainsford’s heart.
and jungle when Rainsford sighted the lights. Out of the snarl of beard two small eyes
He came upon them as he turned a crook in regarded Rainsford.
the coast line, and his first thought was that “Don’t be alarmed,” said Rainsford, with a
he had come upon a village, for there were smile which he hoped was disarming.6 “I’m
many lights. But as he forged along he saw to no robber. I fell off a yacht. My name is
his great astonishment that all the lights were Sanger Rainsford of New York City.”
in one enormous building—a lofty structure The menacing look in the eyes did not
with pointed towers plunging upward into change. The revolver pointed as rigidly as if
the gloom. His eyes made out the shadowy the giant were a statue. He gave no sign that
outlines of a palatial chateau;5 it was set on a he understood Rainsford’s words, or that he
high bluff, and on three sides of it cliffs dived had even heard them. He was dressed in
down to where the sea licked greedy lips in uniform, a black uniform trimmed with
the shadows. gray astrakhan.7
“Mirage,” thought Rainsford. But it was no
mirage, he found, when he opened the tall

6. Disarming means “tending to remove fear or suspicion;

4. Quarry is anything that is hunted or pursued, especially an
charming.”
animal.
7. Astrakhan is the woolly skin of young lambs and is named
5. A palatial chateau (sha tō
) is a magnificent, palace-like
after a region in Russia.
mansion.

Literary Element Suspense How does the author’s word Literary Element Suspense What about this character
choice add suspense in this passage? increases suspense?

Reading Strategy Making and Verifying Predictions Vocabulary

About Plot What do you think Rainsford will do now that
he has found the footprints? discern (di surn
) v. to detect or recognize; to make out

10
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