Accompanied by a gaoler, Houdini and the =Express= representative ascended a flight of stone steps and passed along dimly lighted corridors, whose atmosphere seemed to reek with crime and mystery. Passing through a gate, a row of cells was reached, upon any one of which Houdini might operate. Here was one marked with a strange device. Houdini would try this one. It was a felon's cell--stronger than some of the others, though it could not have been darker or more forbidding. Houdini entered. He was backed in by the =Express= representative. He was inside, safe and sound. SECOND ESCAPE There could be no doubt about that. At the first turn of the key the lock went forward twice; at the second, once. Houdini was behind a triple lock in the dark, dreary cell. The =Express= representative and the gaoler left him there, and retired beyond an iron gate which bars the passage. "The gate is a greater test than the cell," said the gaoler. "It's locked before it's locked, if you understand. Shut it, and it's locked, and then you can lock it again." The gaoler hand only secured it when Houdini presented himself. "That's as quick as I've ever done it," said he. And then he tackled the gate. A moment's hesitation. The gaoler shook his head, and a smile was just overspreading his features, when lo! Houdini flung open wide the gate. He agreed that the gate was "tougher," as he expressed it, than the cell. Houdini is an American. Only his strong arms and his supple, yet powerful hands give the slightest clue of his prison-breaking capacity. He does not look a gaolbird, but the escape he made for the benefit of =Express= readers was his 61st. Bright-eyed, smart, active, and a good talker, he has traveled far and wide, and has broken out of the prisons of many countries. "I have never failed," said Houdini, "but I don't say there is no cell I cannot break out of. As to handcuffs, the hardest job I ever had was with a pair made at Krupp's. It took me 40 minutes to get out of them, but I did it." [Illustration: decorative] [Illustration: =Hou'di-ni=, 1 hü'dï-nï]; 2 hu'dï-nï, =Harry= (4/6 1874- ). American mystericist, wizard, and expert in extrication and self-release.--=hou'di-nize=, _vt._ To release or extricate oneself from (confinement, bonds, or the like), as by wriggling out. FROM FUNK & WAGNALL'S NEW (1920) DICTIONARY] Houdini Outwits Fiji Islander Swimming Champion. Houdini, the man of mystery, who is now appearing in our midst, is certainly a peculiar species of a human being. From all accounts, the energy, the work and feats of this man will, sometime in the future, be the finish of this now wonderful and famous performer. The restless striving to do something better than another human being has brought him to the highest pinnacle of fame, has earned for him princely salaries, and when one considers the risks he has taken, no one can begrudge him the prime minister's salary, which he is earning.