During the three days of the dangerous game created by General Zaroff, who is the hunter and Sanger Rainsford the prey, Rainsford learns what it is to be "a beast at bay."

"You'll find this game worth playing," the general said enthusiastically." Your brain against mine. ....Your strength and stamina against mine. Outdoor chess! And the stake is not without value, eh?"

• Day One

At first Rainsford races in fear; then, he gets control of himself. Working under the metaphor of a chess game, Sanger Rainsford summons his expertise as a tracker as he weaves his way through the forest, covering his tracks and creating diversions meant to slow down Zaroff. When night falls, he climbs into a large joint of a thick, huge tree. Rainsford stretches out upon one of the broad limbs, trying to rest his weary body and strained mind. Reasoning that only the devil could follow his tracks, Rainsford suddenly worries that Zaroff may, indeed, be a devil.
Toward dawn, Rainsford hears someone moving through the bush, so he flattens himself as much as possible against the branch. It is Zaroff, who has trailed him to the tree. He stops and his eyes work their way up the tree. Zaroff, then lights a cigarette. 

Very deliberately he blew a smoke ring into the air; then he turned his back on the tree and walked carelessly away, back along the trail he had come. 

Rainsford realizes that General Zaroff is saving him for another day.

• Day Two

Resolved not to lose his nerve, Rainsford hurries through the undergrowth until he is about three hundred yards from the tree and forms a trap to catch Zaroff. But, with the sureness of a bloodhound, Zaroff follows close behind. When he reaches the trap, the general stops, but he is not quite quick enough. 

...the dead tree, delicately adjusted to rest on the cut living one, crashed down and struck the general a glancing blow on the shoulder as it fell; but for his alertness, he must have been smashed beneath it.

General Zaroff compliments Rainsford, "Not many men know how to make a Malay mancatcher." Then, he says that his shoulder has been injured, and he is returning to his chateau to have his wounds dressed.

Rainsford pushes on and finds himself temporarily stuck in a mire. Then, he realizes that he can build a Burmese tiger trap there. After completing this deadly trap that is set to impale its victim, he waits. After a while he hears swift movement through the underbrush and one of the general's dogs falls into this trap. Again the general congratulates Rainsford for "an amusing evening."  He promises to return with the pack of dogs.

• Day Three

At daybreak Rainsford hears the baying of hounds; he knows there is nothing to do but try to flee them.

Across a cove he could see the gloomy gray stone of the chateau. Twenty feet below him the sea rumbled and hissed. Rainsford hesitated. He heard the hounds. Then he leaped far out into the sea. . . . 

That night the general enjoys a delicious meal. Before he retires to his bedroom, he consoles his hounds, "Better luck next time." When he enters his bed chamber, Rainsford emerges from behind the curtains. Shocked, the general asks him how he has entered the chateau and his room. "Swam," Rainsford responds. General Zaroff congratulates Rainsford, "You have won the game."

Rainsford did not smile. "I am still a beast at bay," he said, in a low, hoarse voice. "Get ready, General Zaroff."

Rainsford defeats his enemy and sleeps in his bed that night.