Magic Tree House #50: Hurry Up, Houdini! (A Stepping Stone Book(TM))

combed back neatly.
    The curtain rose, and the orchestra played a rousing tune.
    Bess stood beside the cabinet while Harrystepped into a spotlight. For a long moment, he gazed intensely at the audience. When the noisy crowd grew quiet, he spoke in a voice that carried all the way to the back of the theater.

    “Ladies and gentlemen, I, Harry Houdini, would like to make a bet with you! I’ll bet a thousand dollars there is no lock that can hold me captive tonight! They don’t call me the Master of Escape for nothing!”
    From that moment on, Harry Houdini
was
the Master of Escape. As the orchestra played, he performed easily, with humor and confidence. Several times during his act, he invited volunteers onstage to make sure all his locks were securely locked and all his knots were tightly tied.
    During his first trick, Houdini asked the audience volunteers to check three pairs of handcuffs that Bess had locked around his wrists. Then he stepped inside his cabinet.
    Bess closed the black curtain. “Let’s count to ten together!” she called to the crowd.
    Everyone counted: “One! Two! Three! …”
    On the count of ten, Houdini threw open the curtain—his handcuffs dangling from his hand!
    Jack and Annie gasped. “How did he do that?” Jack said.
    Harry did the trick again with a new level of difficulty. This time, Bess not only locked handcuffs around Houdini’s wrists, she also wrapped chains around his ankles and secured them with padlocks. Again, excited volunteers made certain that all the locks were truly locked.
    When the black curtain closed, Bess asked everyone to count again. On the count of ten, Harry threw open the curtain—freed from his shackles and handcuffs. The crowd clapped and cheered.
    “And now,” he said, “the Master of Escape will share with you his most thrilling and dangerous escape to date!”
    Houdini dashed offstage. The orchestra played scary-sounding music as Hank and Butch brought out a huge milk can and placed it inside the cabinet. Audience members whispered to each other as the stagehands filled the giant can with buckets of water.
    Harry then reappeared dressed in an old-fashioned black bathing suit. Bess put the threepairs of handcuffs around his wrists again. After volunteers checked the locks, Houdini climbed inside the milk can.
    Jack and Annie stood up to watch.
    Houdini lowered himself into the water until he was completely inside the can. Water splashed over the sides. Bess then closed the lid, padlocked it, and pulled the black curtain.
    While the can was out of sight, the orchestra played
tick-tock, tick-tock
. Jack could hardly breathe as one minute went by … two minutes … Someone in the audience cried out with alarm.
    How does Harry keep from drowning?
Jack wondered anxiously.
How can he undo handcuffs in such a tight space?
    Suddenly Houdini threw back the curtain. He was standing in front of the milk can, dripping wet! He had escaped again! He stepped to the side andpointed to the lid of the can—it was still locked firmly in place!
    Bess brought Harry a red robe, and the audience cheered. The orchestra played triumphant music.

    The whole time Houdini had been performing his tricks, Jack had listened carefully to everything he’d said:
    “Ladies and gentlemen, my brain is the key that sets me free!”
    “Ladies and gentlemen, my chief task is to conquer fear!”
    “Ladies and gentlemen, an old trick in a new dress is always a pleasant change!”
    Every time Houdini said something that sounded meaningful, Jack checked the Ring of Truth. He kept hoping that some secret of greatness would be revealed. But no matter what Harry said, the gold ring didn’t glow.
    After the milk can trick, the stage crew replaced the can with a steamer trunk.
    “Finally, for old times’ sake, I close with the act that first made me famous,” said Houdini.
    The drummer played a drumroll. Then Houdini shouted: “The world-famous original Metamorphosis in three seconds! For this amazingfeat, I will share the spotlight with the one and only
Mrs
. Houdini!”
    Harry took Bess’s hand, and she curtsied for the crowd.
    “Years ago, I met this beautiful gal right here on Coney Island,” Houdini said. “I love her with all my heart. But now she must become my prisoner.”
    The audience laughed as a stagehand brought out a short, thick rope. Harry quickly tied Bess’s hands behind her back. “Dear one, I must now ask you to step into this bag.” Bess stepped into