Rainsford drifts to sleep in General Zaroff's bed.
Mortally wounded, General Zaroff picks up the forgotten hunting knife and limps to the side of the bed. With his last breath, he raises the knife and plunges it directly into Rainford's heart. Everything goes black.
Rainsford is awoken by the gray light of dawn filtering through the window. He peels open his eyes, momentarily disoriented.
It all comes back to him. He was hunted. He had eluded the General's grasp for three days. Then he had come back to end the madness. He looks to see the bloody body of General Zaroff in the middle of the bedroom floor.
"It was only a dream," he mumbles, recalling the General killing him.
He reminisces for another moment on the events of the last few days. He recalls how Whitney had sympathized with the jaguars.
"I rather think they understand one thing – fear," Whitney had said. "The fear of pain and the fear of death."
Rainsford had certainly felt those things during the past three days, no matter how calm and sensible he tried to be. The hunter became the hunted, and he didn't fancy that at all.
He slipped on some of the General's day clothes and freshened up.
"Now to get home."
He searched the cavernous chateau and finally found what he was looking for. He found the radio in what looked to be Zaroff's study. He sat there for about three hours before finally locating his yacht.
"Why, Rainsford, is that you?" Captain Nielson exclaims upon hearing his voice.
"Yes, Captain Nielson, it's me. Where's Whitney?" he says hurriedly.
"Right here-"
"What is it? Where are you? We couldn't find you! What happened?" Whitney's voice rushes on, words tumbling over themselves like a verbal waterfall.
"I'm on Ship-Trap Island. Please, come back for me. I need to get off!" Rainsford realizes he sounds a lot calmer than he feels. Panic wells in his chest with every word he says.
"Ship-Trap Island? How in God's name did you end up there? Never mind. You can explain in Rio. We'll-"
"No! No," Rainsford objects. "I'm not going to Rio. I'm not going to hunt anymore. I just want to go home." Rainsford mentally slaps himself for sounding so childish.
"But the jaguars-"
"Now!" he yells. There is no further objection as they announce that they are doubling back.
They return the following day to find Rainsford waiting eagerly on the beach. Just as the yacht stops and Whitney is about to jump into the dingy, Rainsford simply jumps into the water impatiently and swims to the yacht himself.
Whitney and the crew get Rainsford into dry clothes of his own and tend to his needs. When he is content and far away from Ship-Trap Island, Whitney starts to question him.
"And once you got on the island? What did you do then? What happened? Where did you get those clothes?"
"I do not wish to talk about it, Whitney. All I will say is that I know what it's like to be the jaguar, regardless of my advantage of reasoning. To subject anything to that…it's barbaric, and I'll never do that again."
