wait to see if it will work.

As he is kneeling behind a tree stump in the dark, Rainsford

knew his pursuer was coming; he heard the padding sound of feet on the soft earth, and the night breeze brought him the perfume of the general's cigarette. It seemed to Rainsford that the general was coming with unusual swiftness; he was not feeling his way along, foot by foot. Rainsford, crouching there, could not see the general, nor could he see the pit. He lived a year in a minute. 

Rainsford's heart must have been thumping wildly and he was undoubtedly as frightened as he had ever been in his life. He is relieved when, a few minutes later, he hears something fall into the pit. It is not Zaroff, but it is one of his dogs, and Zaroff commends Rainsford for his cunning before leaving for the night. 

The reader is expected to understand that a man who is under great emotional stress is likely to have a different subjective sense of time than what is "normal." Ambrose Bierce demonstrated this phenomenon in his story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge." Everything that seems to happen to Peyton Farquhar from the time he falls from the bridge until he almost succeeds to grasping his wife in his arms at their plantation actually occurs in a matter of two or three seconds. The story is built on the strong contrast between real time and subjective time under an extremely stressful situation. Both stories, "The Most Dangerous Game" and "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" raise the question "What is time?" One physicist has said that time is what keeps everything from happening at once.

In John Le Carre's excellent novel Smiley's People, the last in the "Karla trilogy," the author plays with the subjectivity of time. In Chapter 2, Villem is picking up a yellow package of photographs aboard a steamer in Hamburg. He imagines that all the other passengers suspect him of being a terrorist. He keeps glancing at his wristwatch and finding that the seconds hand hardly seems to be moving.

The timing hand on his watch flickered past the six. The next time it reaches six, you move....When he got excited--he knew--he lost all sense of time completely. He was afraid the seconds hand would race through a double circuit before he had realised, turning one minute into two....He looked at his watch. The seconds hand was standing at ten. It's stopped! Fifteen seconds since I last looked--that simply is not possible!

The fact that time is not reliable for Sanger Rainsford is just one indication of the stress and anxiety he is experiencing as a result of being placed in a nightmare situation. He is trying his best to keep control of his nerves. Yet his own mind is working against him, making his predicament even worse. General Zaroff understands the mental anguish and disassociation his prey must be experiencing, which makes the "game" more enjoyable for the sadistic manhunter. 

I believe to "live life in a minute" means that at a time of serious jeopardy or in a life threatening situation, you live all the best or most precious moments of your life in an instant.  It is in that moment, or instant, that you think of everyone you love or have ever loved and question whether or not you will ever see them again.  Although I have never been in that situation, but in "The Most Dangerous Game" it is a terrifying thought to be in the position of Rainsford and hunted like an animal.  I also think that it is that feeling that leads to the statement that he is still "a beast at bay."

Ah, good questions. First, where does the author say that one of the characters lived life in a minute?

My version of the story says, regarding Rainsford, that "He lived a year in a minute." This means that his senses were so heightened by the adrenaline rush of one man hunting another that it feels like that minute is full of a whole year's activities. It also refers to how time feels like it slows down at moments of crisis.

As far as still being a beast at bay, that has several meanings. Most simply, it means that the "game" didn't end when they'd originally planned: the hunt is still going on. On a deeper level, it refers to Rainsford's having found a more dangerous inner self. He's both warning General Zaroff and admitting how much this "game" has changed him.

Greg

I believe to "live a year in a minute" means that at a time of serious jeopardy or in a life threatening situation, you live all the best or most precious moments of your life in an instant.  It is in that moment, or instant, that you think of everyone you love or have ever loved and question whether or not you will ever see them again.  Although I have never been in that situation, but in "The Most Dangerous Game" it is a terrifying thought to be in the position of Rainsford and hunted like an animal.

Think of it in this way:  someone is involved in a serious accident and the story he tells after it is clear he will survive it is that his entire life passed before his eyes and he witnessed all those years, those events, those people within seconds.  It is the same with Rainsford.  He experiences much during the time he is being hunted by Zaroff.  Some of that is sentimental--family he'll miss, things he'll not do again--but much of it is every bit of survival knowledge he's ever picked up from books, friends, Discovery channel, or seasons of SURVIVOR.  These things not only help him to physically deal with his situation, but they also help him stay focused and sane.  Going insane at this moment and panicking would force him to make a fatal error...one he knows he can not afford to make.

As Rainsford was working on making the trap, it seemed he worked quickly, frantically, and exhaustingly spending much exertion. I imagine, if he could track his output in the short amount of time he had to make the trap, it would have been comparable to the amount of work his body normally does over days, weeks, or months. Then, to sit in anticipation after unloading all of that work probably felt like forever. He knew he was racing against the time at which Zaroff would again show up. He did not know how long that would take. Once his task was done, it should seem that any moment it would be acceptable for Zaroff to approach... but it took a while - that little while felt like forever to him.

I assume that you have heard (probably many times) the saying that "time flies when you're having fun."  Well, this is sort of the opposite.  It is meant to show how nervous and scared Sanger Rainsford was at this point in the story.

At this point, Rainsford has made his Burmese Tiger Trap and he's really anxious, hoping that Zaroff will fall in.  It really is a matter of life and death for him.  As a way to show this, the author says that time is moving really slowly for Rainsford.

Think about sometime that you've been scared or nervous.  How did time feel to you at that point?

Shortly after Sanger Rainsford successfully wounds General Zaroff using the Malay mancatcher, the general walks back to his chateau to dress his wounds and Rainsford begins running in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, Rainford runs directly into the Death Swamp and begins to desperately dig a deep pit. Rainsford then fashions sharp stakes and places them at the bottom of the massive hole to create a deadly Burmese tiger pit. As soon as Rainsford finishes the trap, he crouches down behind a nearby tree, where he cannot see the pit or the general. Connell then writes,

He [Rainford] lived a year in a minute. (13)

Connell's comment emphasizes the amount of stress and pressure that Rainsford is under. Essentially, Connell is saying that Rainsford aged a year in a minute because of the intense, life-threatening situation. By figuratively living a year in a minute, Rainsford has experienced all the stress and pressure that a typical person would experience in a year. As he crouches behind a tree, Rainsford suddenly hears the crackle of broken branches and a sharp scream of pain. Unfortunately, Rainsford only wounds one of Zaroff's best dogs, which means that the general will continue to pursue him throughout Ship-Trap Island. Despite Rainsford's small victory, he is forced to continue avoiding the general, who begins pursuing him with a pack of dogs.

Richard Connell's short story "The Most Dangerous Game" tells the tale of a man (Rainsford) who becomes trapped upon an island by a man (Zaroff) who has found, and hunts, the most dangerous prey in the world: man (given man is the only creature who can reason).

Rainsford is challenged by Zaroff to survive a three day hunt. If Rainsford is able to elude Zaroff, he wins the game. To this point, Zaroff has always won.

In regards to the quote in question, it comes from the following passage:

He knew his pursuer was coming; he heard the padding sound of feet on the soft earth, and the night breeze brought him the perfume of the general's cigarette. It seemed to Rainsford that the general was coming with unusual swiftness; he was not feeling his way along, foot by foot. Rainsford, crouching there, could not see the general, nor could he see the pit. He lived a year in a minute.

What this refers to is that when people are close to death, their life has been said to flash before their eyes. Therefore, in one sense, Rainsford may have believed that he was about to die.

On the other hand, the quote could be referencing the anxiety and anguish Rainsford is feeling as he is waiting for the trap to spring. For him, the time he spent waiting seemed like it lasted forever, meaning it felt like an entire year passed as he waited for the Burmese tiger pit to take its victim.

It is important to remember that in "A Dangerous Game," Rainsford is running for his life from General Zaroff who thinks it is great sport to hunt human beings like animals. The short story helps portray the irony concerning the way that hunters feel it is OK to treat the prey they are hunting. It captures the irony through the fact that General Zaroff, in the absence of having live animals to hunt on the deserted island, feels it is OK to hunt any humans that find their way onto the island instead. In the beginning of the story, General Zaroff and Rainsford are paralleled in their beliefs that the strong have the right to use the weak for their pleasure, as we see in Zaroff's own line, "The weak of the world were put here to give the strong pleasure." Since animals are weaker than mankind, Rainsford enters the story believing that mankind has the right to hunt and use animals for mankind's pleasure. Likewise, Zaroff believes those who become stranded on the island are the "scum of the earth" and that he is therefore justified in using them for his own personal pleasure. However, Rainsford soon learns that even the weaker have feelings that need to be respected when he himself begins to be hunted by General Zaroff.

At the moment that the narrator says of Rainsford, "He lived a year in a minute," Rainsford is crouching by a tiger pit he has dug up and planted with sharp stakes to kill anyone or thing that falls into the pit. His hope is that Generald Zaroff will fall into the pit and that Rainsford's life will be saved, and Rainsford is eagerly waiting for this event to take place. It also helps to remember that waiting is an agonizing process, especially if you are waiting to see if you will die or be spared. As he waits for Zaroff to pursue him, hoping he'll fall into the hidden pit, Rainsford feels like every minute that passes is dragging by because each minute is of vital importance to him. Hence, as he crouches waiting for what feels like an eternity, he feels like the length and actions of an entire year can fit into one minute in which he waits for Zaroff to fall into the pit.

Hence, what Connell means by describing a year in one minute is simply that waiting for either your death or your salvation to take place is an agonizing process, so agonizing it feels like all the events that could take place in a year are actually taking place in a minute, dragging the minute on and on.

What this line refers to is the idea that time goes very slowly when you are really afraid or nervous.  This is the state that Rainsford is in at the point where that line is in the story.

At that point, Zaroff has been hunting Rainsford for a while.  Rainsford has hurt Zaroff a little bit, but Zaroff is back on his trail.  Then Rainsford makes the Burmese tiger pit and he waits, hoping that Zaroff will fall into it and die.  That is the point where he lives a year in a minute.

Zaroff doesn't fall in -- it is only one of his best dogs that does, but at least it makes Zaroff go home and stop hunting Rainsford for the evening.

As the old saying goes, "Time flies when you're having fun." By the same token, time really seems to drag when you're going through hell; when you're nervous, frightened, and apprehensive. And that's what's happening to Rainsford in The Most Dangerous Game. Rainsford's being hunted down by the cruel, blood-thirsty General Zaroff. As he hides from his evil pursuer, Rainsford builds a trap which he hopes will ensnare his would-be killer, turning the hunter into the hunted. As he waits for Zaroff to appear, Rainsford is subjected to unbearable, nerve-shredding tension. Each nanosecond seems to drag on for eternity as he waits...and waits...and waits, hoping against hope that Zaroff will fall into his trap. It's as if he's experiencing a whole year in such a short space of time.

The statement, "He lived a year in a minute," is a hyperbole- an exaggeration used for effect. At this moment, Rainsford is hiding from General Zaroff, who is hunting him. He has built a trap for Zaroff and is nervously waiting for him to fall into it. Because he cannot see where the general is and because there is the possibility that his plan may backfire, he is feeling as though time is at a stand-still.