Describe Zaroff’s training school.

Zaroff reveals that he has set up a trap on the island. There are lights that indicate a channel but there is actually none. Many ships end up wrecking on the rocks near the island. Zaroff collects the men, feeds them, and sends them to his training school for preparation. He then releases them one by one into the jungle under the guise of joining him on a hunt. Zaroff gives the men a head start and then pursues them during the cover of night. The rules of Zaroff’s game are simple—if the prey is able to elude Zaroff for three days, then he has won.

Rainsford does not understand why anyone would willingly participate in such a sport. He asks Zaroff what happens if someone chooses not to partake in the game. Zaroff says that his quarry has two options—they either join the hunt or suffer at the hands of Ivan. Zaroff reveals that he has yet to lose a game, although one man did come close to victory.

"We'll visit my training school," smiled the general. "It's in the cellar. I have about a dozen pupils down there now. They're from the Spanish bark San Lucar that had the bad luck to go on the rocks out there. A very inferior lot, I regret to say. Poor specimens and more accustomed to the deck than to the jungle."