Part 10

He receives the coin on the tramway; then picking it up with the right hand, makes some observation as to the mark, meanwhile pressing the waxed side of the disc against it, then replacing it, disc down, in the middle of the tramway.

“I shall now, by means of the ‘od’ force, compel the coin to move towards me.” This he does accordingly, by relaxing the pressure of the thumb upon the thread and merely bringing the pull of the weight into operation. When the coin has all but reached the nearer end of the tramway, he says, “We will now see if we can make it travel a little longer distance.” So saying he draws the thread out again and lays the coin on the farther end of the tram, and again makes it travel slowly back. A good effect may be here produced by making it stop halfway, and (after remarking in a casual way that the power is hardly strong enough) picking up the ball, again rubbing it upon the sleeve and moving it, a few inches distance, in the direction in which the coin is to travel, when it resumes its journey accordingly.

Once more picking up the coin, he replaces it at the farther end of the tramway, but in so doing passes the thread outside and around the screw at that end. He then remarks, as if bethinking himself: “By the way, a lady suggested the other night that the coin was attracted towards me by my personal magnetism. I know I am an attractive man: I have been told so frequently but that is not the explanation in this case, as I will prove to you by making the coin travel _away_ from me.” So saying, he draws the coin towards him, easing off the pressure on the thread to enable him to do so, and leaves it at the inner end. The ball is now moved away from himself, and the pressure of the brake being relaxed, the coin is now drawn in the same direction.

“‘_Quod erat demonstrandum_,’ as our old friend Shakespeare (or was it Euclid) used to say.” (To the lender of the coin.) “You must take care of this coin, Sir; it is now charged with a minute quantity of the ‘od’ force, and so long as you keep it you can never be ‘stony-broke.’ I will show you just one more effect with it before I return it to you.”

While speaking, he has carelessly picked up the coin, and replaced it on the _inner_ side of the screw so that this shall be no longer encircled by the thread. Picking up the match box from the table, he pushes out the “tray” portion with the forefinger; then throwing aside the outer case, he picks up the tray, and inverts it over the coin.

“I will now show you that the ‘od’ force still operates even though it is cut off from any direct connection with the subject of the experiment: but in this case a little more power is required.” So saying he rubs the glass ball again on his coat-sleeve, and, moving the ball accordingly, causes the coin to travel towards him, the match-box naturally moving with it. In again picking up the coin, to return it to the owner, he detaches it from the disc, which flies back to its original resting-place.

THE MYSTERY OF THE THREE SEALS

This is a trick involving some little trouble in the way of preparation, and perhaps a little more than average address on the part of the performer, but on the other hand it costs little; for all the needful appliances may be homemade, and in the hands of an expert the trick will amply repay the time and trouble expended upon it. Baldly stated, its effect consists in the magical introduction of a marked coin into the innermost of a nest of three envelopes, each securely sealed.

The requirements for the trick are as under:

1. Two nests of envelopes. The innermost of each is one of the little square kind used in shops to contain copper “change,” or to hold the weekly wage of an employee. It should be of cartridge or stout manila paper, and about two inches square. The next larger is of the ordinary square or so-called square-note size, and the third a little larger still. Envelopes of the two last mentioned sizes are not always to be obtained made of cartridge or manila, but this condition is not in their case absolutely essential. The flap of each envelope must be stuck down and sealed with red wax.[18]

2. A special envelope, which we will call the “trick” envelope. This is of the same size and kind as the innermost of the nested envelopes but has undergone special preparation as follows: Taking two ordinary envelopes, cut round the edges of one of them with a penknife, completely dividing back from front. Take the plain or non-flap side of the one so treated, lay it squarely under the flap of the other, and stick the flap down upon it in the ordinary way: then add a seal of red wax, as closely as possible corresponding in appearance with the two seals of the innermost of the nested envelopes. Lastly, cut away the superfluous paper round the seal and the edges of the flap. The envelope will now be shown as in Fig. 36, and when closed will have the appearance of an envelope sealed in the ordinary way, though it as yet lacks the connecting medium for actually securing it.

3. The “coin mat” (page 4) freshly treated with the usual adhesive. The side so treated is to be turned downwards on the table with a shilling pressed against the adhesive portion.

4. A penknife, to be used as envelope opener.

As shortly as possible before the presentation of the trick, the trick envelope must be further prepared by spreading a thin layer of seccotine on that portion of the underside of the flap immediately under the seal.

N. B. This must not be done too long beforehand, as it is essential to the success of the trick that the envelope be used while the seccotine is still in a “tacky” condition.

The envelope prepared as above, to be laid on the table, behind some small object, or preferably just inside the foremost rim of a Japanese tray; at one corner, mouth uppermost, and flap to the rear. Under these conditions, the butting of the opposite edge of the envelope against the forward wall of the tray will be found greatly to facilitate the subsequent introduction of the borrowed coin. Before so placing the envelope, its edges on each side should be pressed slightly inwards, so as to make it expand a little at the opening.

These arrangements duly made, the performer may introduce the trick as follows:

“I don’t know whether anybody here remembers George the Third, I can’t say I do myself. He was before my time, but there is a funny little story told about him. One day when out for a walk, he went into a farmhouse where he found the family having their dinner. One dish consisted of apple-dumplings, and the question crossed the King’s mind, ‘How on earth did the apples get into the dumplings?’ He didn’t like to ask, but he couldn’t get the puzzle out of his head. He thought about it so much and it worried him so that at last he went clean out of his mind. He became _non compos mentis_, which is the doctors’ polite way of saying dotty.

“I mention this story by way of a caution. What I am going to show you is ever so much more incomprehensible than any number of apple-dumplings; in fact, so extra-extraordinary that if anybody here was the least bit excitable and I sprung it upon him unawares he might go dotty like old Georgie. So if any of you feel at all nervous, don’t hesitate to go home, or you can go and sit on the stairs till this particular experiment is over. Nobody moves! I am pleased to find that you are all so strong-minded, but if anything happens don’t blame me.

“I have known strong men; men of massive intellect, like myself, come here with a smile on their faces, but when they left the smile was replaced by an air of grim determination. You could see at a glance that they had made up their minds to find out how it was done, or _die_. They haven’t come again: so I suppose they died.[19]

“As you are prepared to run the risk I will ask some gentleman to oblige me with the loan of a shilling, marked, in some unmistakable way. Thank you, Sir. You have marked the coin? Then please place it here, on this little tray. I won’t touch it myself at present. All please keep one eye upon it, the other eye you had better keep on me.”

Receive the coin on the mat, held in right hand. After showing the left hand empty, transfer the mat to that hand and show the right empty. Return the mat to right hand, but before doing so turn that hand over so as to receive the mat with thumb undermost. Just as you reach the table to place the mat upon it bring the second and third fingers over the borrowed coin, and under cover of your own body turn the mat over. In putting it down on the table draw away the borrowed coin into the hand and palm it. To the eye of the spectator the state of things will be unaltered, your own coin, now uppermost on the mat, being taken for the borrowed one.

You continue, standing behind your table, and resting the right hand, with the palmed coin, close to the trick envelope, and holding up the two nests in the other hand: “I have here two envelopes, or, to be exact, six envelopes, for each of those you see contains two more, one within the other: all carefully sealed. I am going to pass the coin this gentleman has lent me into the innermost of one or other of them, I don’t care which, for they are exactly alike, so I shall leave the choice to yourselves.”

While you are speaking as above the disengaged hand slips the genuine coin into the trick envelope, closes it, pressing the flap well down, and palms it, dropping it a moment or two later into a pochette till needed.

“You decide for this envelope? Just as you please. As the other will not be needed I will ask somebody to open it, and bear witness that things are exactly as I have stated.”

Leaving the chosen envelope on the table in full view and bringing forward the other, have the latter opened by some member of the company with the penknife. Hand the envelope produced from it, with the knife, to a second spectator, to be dealt with in like manner. When the innermost is reached, have this opened by the lender of the marked coin: this apparent proof of good faith tending to make him less critical when, at a later stage, he is invited to do the same with the trick envelope.

“Nothing could be fairer, could it? You will all agree that it would have been impossible to introduce anything into the innermost of those three envelopes without breaking all three seals. When I say impossible, of course I mean impossible to a mere man. To a magician there is no such word as impossible, except in the dictionary. In fact, the more impossible a thing is, the more any respectable magician makes up his mind to do it. Watch me carefully, please. I want you to be quite sure all through that there is no deception.

“Now then, to pass the coin into this other envelope.” As you say this, you pick up the coin mat, depress it enough for all present to see the coin upon it, and make the motion of sliding it off into the left hand. This should be done while standing a little in front of your table. In turning to replace the mat, reverse it and lay it with the side to which the coin adheres downwards. If deftly executed, this reversal of the mat will be imperceptible, as it is covered by the turn to the table. Even if it were noticed it would have practically no significance for the spectators, who naturally take it for granted that the coin has passed from the mat into your hand. The moment you have laid down the mat, the now disengaged hand picks up the nest of envelopes, and you make believe to rub the coin (supposedly in left hand) into it. This done, you hold the envelope aloft in each hand alternately, allowing it to be seen that the hands are otherwise empty.

“So far, so good! The coin has passed from my hands into the innermost envelope. But I don’t expect you to take my word for it. Will you, sir” (any given spectator) “open the outermost envelope, first, however, satisfying yourself that it is still securely sealed?”

It is just possible, though not very likely, that the person to whom the envelope and penknife have been handed may notice, and remark audibly, that he cannot feel any coin in the envelope. If such a remark is made, you reply that the coin naturally had to be dematerialised before it could pass into the envelope, and it will take a few minutes for it to re-materialise, but it will become gradually more solid, and will then be distinctly perceptible.

The outer envelope having been opened you take back its contents, and under pretext of getting as many witnesses as possible to fair play, have the next envelope opened by a second person, seated at some little distance from the lender of the shilling. The last named gentleman is invited himself to open the last envelope, or rather, the trick envelope, which you in transit substitute for it. Having already opened a precisely similar envelope, and found it securely fastened, he is not likely to anticipate anything different about this one. If he uses the penknife and cuts it open along the edge of the flap in the usual way he will naturally hold it with the thumb upon the seal and all will be well. As a rule, he will be more concerned to identify the coin as the one he lent than to seek for any suspicious feature about the envelope. Even in the unlikely case of his tearing open the envelope, instead of cutting it, it is doubtful whether he would detect the use of the seccotine, which should by this time be practically dry; and by the rest of the spectators it would still be taken for granted that this envelope, like the rest, was sealed in the ordinary way.

It will be obvious to the expert reader that the central idea, viz., the transformation by the use of seccotine of an open envelope into one apparently sealed in the regular way, is one that admits of a wide variety of detail as to the mode of presentation. For instance: The procedure suggested for getting rid of the duplicate coin, and apparently rubbing it into the envelope, is but one of many alternatives. The coin might be “passed” by the agency of fire, _i.e._, wrapped in a piece of flash paper with open fold at bottom and flared off at the psychological moment over a candle flame, or it might be got rid of by vanishing it into the pocket of a black art mat, or by the use of a black art patch, as described at page 20.

The critical part of the trick is the “switching” of the two envelopes at the final stage, but in view of their small size this is a matter of very little difficulty. The expert will probably do this after some fashion of his own. The less instructed reader may use the following plan, which he will find by no means difficult of execution, though it will need some little practice to work it neatly.

While the second envelope is being opened, get the trick envelope from the pochette into the right hand, clipping it against the second and third joints of the second and third fingers, with the “seal” side turned away from them. When the genuine envelope is handed to you receive it with the left hand, and immediately transfer it to the right, pushing it between the fingers and the palmed one, with the seal facing in the same direction. The moment it is masked by the fingers push the trick envelope outward with the thumb, bringing this into view in its place. Smartly executed the change is instantaneous and cannot possibly be detected. The apparent object of passing it from hand to hand is to have the left hand empty and so free to take back the penknife from the last holder. From this point all will be easy, as it is the trick envelope which is now alone in view, and all you have to guard against is any accidental exposure of the one now hidden in the hand.

This description may justly appear somewhat long-winded, but its length is occasioned by the number of small details demanding notice. In performance, the trick should not take, at most, more than ten minutes. The introductory patter may of course be shortened at pleasure.

[18] If the performer does not object to the slight additional trouble, he will find an easy method of obtaining envelopes exactly square and of any desired description of paper, indicated in the chapter entitled “A Few Wrinkles,” _post._

[19] This rigmarole may equally well be used by way of introduction to any other trick of sufficient importance. King George’s puzzlement about the dumplings is said to be a matter of history, but, I do not guarantee it as a fact.

THE WIZARD’S POCKETBOOK

This is an extremely small volume, consisting in fact of six pages only, and no letterpress, the instructions for its use being embodied in a separate leaflet. On each of its pages are miniature reproductions of thirty-six playing cards, six in a row; every card of the pack being represented once at least among the whole number. The object of the book is to enable the owner to discover the name of a card drawn (or merely thought of) by some member of the company. The chooser is only asked to look at the book, and state on which one or more of its pages the card in question appears, when the performer, without seeing or handling the book himself, can instantly name the card. The six pages of the book are reproduced in the diagrams which follow. Figs. 37-42.

To be in a position to work the trick, it is necessary in the first place to memorise each of the fifty-two cards of the pack in connection with a particular number. This may at first sight appear a formidable undertaking, but it is not so in reality.

All that really needs to be memorised is the order of the suits; which is as under:

1. Clubs. 2. Hearts. 3. Spades. 4. Diamonds.

This order may be instantly recalled by using as a memory-peg the word _CH_a_S_e_D_, which contains the initials of the four suits in the proper order, or the reader may if he prefers it recall them by reflecting that _Cool Heads Soon Decide_.

The arrangement of each suit follows the natural order, the ace of clubs being No. 1; the deuce 2; and the trey 3; knave 11; queen 12 and king 13. The card next following, viz., the ace of hearts, will be 14; the deuce of hearts 15, and so on, the complete arrangement being as shown below:

1. Ace of clubs. 2. Deuce of clubs. 3. Trey of clubs. 4. Four of clubs. 5. Five of clubs. 6. Six of clubs. 7. Seven of clubs. 8. Eight of clubs. 9. Nine of clubs. 10. Ten of clubs. 11. Knave of clubs. 12. Queen of clubs. 13. King of clubs. 14. Ace of hearts. 15. Deuce of hearts. 16. Trey of hearts. 17. Four of hearts. 18. Five of hearts. 19. Six of hearts. 20. Seven of hearts. 21. Eight of hearts. 22. Nine of hearts. 23. Ten of hearts. 24. Knave of hearts. 25. Queen of hearts. 26. King of hearts. 27. Ace of spades. 28. Deuce of spades. 29. Trey of spades. 30. Four of spades. 31. Five of spades. 32. Six of spades. 33. Seven of spades. 34. Eight of spades. 35. Nine of spades. 36. Ten of spades. 37. Knave of spades. 38. Queen of spades. 39. King of spades. 40. Ace of diamonds. 41. Deuce of diamonds. 42. Trey of diamonds. 43. Four of diamonds. 44. Five of diamonds. 45. Six of diamonds. 46. Seven of diamonds. 47. Eight of diamonds. 48. Nine of diamonds. 49. Ten of diamonds. 50. Knave of diamonds, 51. Queen of diamonds. 52. King of diamonds.

The arrangement of the table being once understood, the number associated with any given card in the club suit suggests itself automatically, _e.g._, the seven of clubs is likewise No. 7 in the list. To ascertain the name of the card corresponding to any of the higher numbers, all that is needed is to subtract from that number 13, or such higher multiple of thirteen as the case will admit, and the difference will represent its position in its own suit.

Suppose, for instance, that the performer desires to know what card answers to the number 20. Deducting thirteen from 20, the remainder, 7, tells him that the card is the seventh (_i.e._ the seven) of the second suit, viz., hearts. If he wants to know the name of No. 29, he deducts 26, when the remainder, 3, tells him that the card is the three of the third suit, spades. If the card be No. 40, the number to be deducted will be 39, and the remainder, 1, tells him that the card is the first of the fourth suit, viz., the ace of diamonds. After a very few trials, this little exercise in mental arithmetic becomes so familiar that the calculation becomes practically instantaneous.

Going a step further; with each of the six pages of the pocket-book is associated a special number, known as its “key” number. These are as under:

Page 1 Key Number 1 ” 2 ” ” 2 ” 3 ” ” 4 ” 4 ” ” 8 ” 5 ” ” 16 ” 6 ” ” 32

The memorising of these is also a very simple matter, for it will be noted that the key numbers are the first six factors of the familiar geometrical progression, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32. Printed as below:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 --------------------- 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32

the upper figures, in ordinary type, expressing the numbers of the pages, and the lower, in black type, the corresponding key numbers, a very small amount of study will associate them so closely in the mind as to fix them firmly in the memory.

Having mastered these two simple lessons, the learner is in a position to use the pocket-book. To ascertain the card chosen, he has only to add together the key numbers of the pages in which he is told that such card appears. The total will be the number at which that card stands in the list given on page 185, and, this being known, it becomes an easy matter to name the card itself.

We will suppose, for instance, that performer is told that the chosen card appears on the second page, and no other. The key number of this page being 2, the card must be the second in the list, viz., the deuce of clubs. If he is told that the chosen card is to be found on pages 1, 3 and 6: the key number of these three pages being 1, 4 and 32: together making 37, and thirty-seven less twenty-six being eleven, he knows that the card must be the eleventh of the third suit, otherwise the knave of spades. If he is told that the card is on the third, fifth and sixth pages, the key numbers of which are 4, 16 and 32, total 52, it is clear that the card must be the last in the list, viz., the king of diamonds.

* * * * *

So much for the working of the trick. But the reader, if of an enquiring mind, will naturally ask, “How is this result obtained?” The answer rests upon a special property of the geometrical progression which forms the six key numbers. It is a curious fact that by the use of these six numbers, either singly or in combination with others of the series, any number, from unity up to 63, can be expressed. Thus, the numbers, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 and 32 we already have, these being numbers of the series. As to other numbers:

1 + 2 = 3 4 + 1 = 5 4 + 2 = 6 4 + 2 + 1 = 7 8 + 1 = 9 8 + 2 = 10 8 + 2 + 1 = 11 8 + 4 = 12 8 + 4 + 1 = 13

and so on throughout up to 52, which being the limit of the pack, is the highest number with which we need concern ourselves.