"Give me the same wages you pay those other fellows and I'll come down," rumbled Willard's deep voice.
The audience, scenting something unusual, was very quiet.
"Sir, I will gladly do so," returned Houdini, heatedly. "Come on down—I pay these men nothing."
"Aw' g'wan with the show," roared Willard, growling something that sounded like "four-flusher" and "faker."
Willard's boorish replies evidently displeased those present, for a few scattering hisses came about this time.
Houdini stepped to the footlights and held up his hand for silence.
It was readily granted.
"Jess Willard, I have just paid you a compliment," said Houdini dramatically. "Now I want to tell you something else.
"I will be Harry Houdini, Jess Willard, when you are NOT the heavyweight champion of the world."
A roar of applause shook the house. Men and women alike joined in the clapping and cheering.