Part 5

The performer advances with the forcing pack, meanwhile executing a false shuffle of the kind which leaves the pack as if cut, but otherwise undisturbed as to order. Holding the pack on the outstretched palm of his left hand, he invites someone to cut it. This done, he takes back with the other hand the upper portion of the cut, and says, “You have cut where you pleased, have you not? If you think I made cut at that particular point, you can cut again. You are satisfied? Then I will ask you to be good enough to take three cards from the top of this lower heap. Keep them carefully. Don’t let me see them: in fact don’t show them just yet to anyone, but please remember exactly what they are.” He replaces the top half of the cut, and passing to another spectator, at some little distance from the first, has the pack cut again, and a second three cards taken in like manner. This is repeated with a third person, just far enough away from the second as to preclude any possibility of the three drawers comparing their cards.

“Now, ladies and gentlemen, you must all agree that I have not sought to influence the choice of these gentlemen” (or ladies, as the case may be) “in the slightest degree, and it must be equally clear to you that I cannot possibly know even one of the cards that have been chosen. To make sure that I do not get sight of them in any way, we will have them placed, with the remainder of the pack, in this envelope.” He collects the cards accordingly, allowing each person who drew to replace his cards himself in the envelope, and requesting the last person to moisten the flap, and make all secure.

Returning to his table, he places the closed envelope in full view. “I shall now want the assistance of some gentleman. Thank you, sir. Will you kindly shuffle this other pack for me.” (He runs the cards over fanwise, showing their faces, so as to prove that they are an ordinary mixed pack: then hands them to be shuffled, and while this is being done, palms the three secreted cards.) “Shuffle them thoroughly, please, and then spread them a little, faces down, upon the table, and lay your handkerchief over them.

“Now I am going, in the first place, to attempt a little thought-reading. I shall endeavour by that means to discover the three cards each person chose, and then, by means of the sense of touch, which I have cultivated to a rather unusual degree, to pick them out, without seeing them, from among the cards under the handkerchief. I shall only ask one indulgence. To leave a little margin for possible mistakes. I shall ask your permission to pick out four cards instead of three for each person, so as to give me one extra chance. Will the gentleman who drew first kindly look my way, and say to himself slowly, the names of the cards he drew. Thank you, Sir! I think I read them right.” He inserts his hand under the handkerchief, and after a little pretended fumbling, brings out the three palmed cards, with one indifferent card in front of them. He does not show or look at them, but asks the second chooser to think hard of his three cards, afterwards taking four more from under the handkerchief. Having done the same in the case of the third drawer, he spreads the twelve cards he has taken from under the handkerchief, and shows them fanwise. Addressing the first drawer, he says, “Your three cards are among these, I think, sir?” and the same question is then addressed to the other two choosers, the answer being of course in the affirmative.

“Now, gentlemen, in order to prove that there is no deception, I will take away three cards at a time, one from each set of three. Pray observe that from beginning to end, I have not looked at the face of any card.” He accordingly removes one of the forced, and two of the indifferent cards, making however some pretence of selection and throws them aside. “There are now only two cards belonging to each gentleman left. That is so, is it not?”

The question is addressed to each of the three drawers in turn, and answered accordingly, after which the same process is again twice repeated.

“And now, gentlemen, we have three cards left, belonging to neither of you, which is just as it should be. It is a peculiarity of this experiment that if it comes out right it always brings good luck to those taking part in it, so you may all fairly expect to live happily ever afterwards, and I trust you will.”

If the performance is given before the family circle, or very intimate friends (who sometimes consider themselves privileged to be disagreeable), it is just possible that some ill-mannered person, in the hope of embarrassing the conjurer, may ask at the close to be allowed to examine the envelope containing the drawn cards. Such an examination, if permitted, would of course largely give away the trick. If the performer has any reason to fear such a contingency, he may guard against it by “switching” the envelope, during his return to the table with it, for a duplicate containing an ordinary mixed pack. In some part of this the three cards corresponding to those drawn should be placed _together_, as the obnoxious person, if himself one of the drawers, will naturally expect so to find them.

At a public performance such a precaution would be supererogatory.

A NEW LONG CARD PACK AND A TRICK DEPENDENT ON ITS USE

Some few months ago I was shown by a clever amateur, Mr. Victor Farrelly, a pack of cards prepared, after a method of his own, to replace in a more subtle form, the familiar _biseauté_ pack. Mr. Farrelly’s plan is to round off, in a very minute degree, three of the corners of an ordinary pack. If a given card be turned round in a pack so treated, it is obvious that its unfiled corner will project, to a microscopic extent, beyond those above and below it, rendering the card instantly discoverable by touch.

Mr. Farrelly’s idea is decidedly ingenious, but the uses of the _biseauté_ pack are rather limited, and the fact that the pack must be reversed before the card is replaced in it is a drawback. It struck me, on reflection, that the idea might be developed, in a slightly different direction, to greater advantage.

My own plan is as follows: Two packs, exactly alike are used. As to one of these, I treat all four corners after the manner indicated by Mr. Farrelly, when any card of the second pack, inserted into the one so treated, naturally becomes in effect, a long card. There is in this case no need to reverse the pack, and as the minute projection is duplicated at each end of the diagonal, a less degree of rounding off is necessary.

As a practical illustration of the possible uses of such a pack, I offer the trick which I am about to describe. The expert will recognise that, save for the use of the new pack, it is merely a combination of well-known methods, but as regards the mode of presentation it is original, and I think will be found worthy of a place in the _répertoire_ of the card-conjurer.

For the purpose of description we will call the pack with rounded corners the “short,” and the other the “long” pack. Three known cards are borrowed from the long pack, which may then be put aside, as it plays no further part in the trick. These three cards are palmed, and after the short pack has been shuffled by one of the company, are added to it, and forced upon three different spectators. We will suppose that the three selected cards are the queen of hearts, forced on a gentleman; the king of clubs and the ten of diamonds; the two last mentioned forced on ladies.

This done, each of the drawers is invited to replace his or her card in the pack, which is passed from the one to the other for that purpose, and before it is returned to you is once more shuffled. You then deliver a “yarn” to something like the following effect:

“Please bear in mind, ladies and gentlemen, exactly what has been done. To begin with, you have seen that the pack was thoroughly well shuffled. Three cards were then freely chosen from it. They have been put back, not by me, but by the persons who drew them, and the pack has since been shuffled again. It is therefore obviously impossible that I should know either what cards have been chosen, or whereabouts they may now be in the pack. But I enjoy impossibilities. The more impossible a thing is, the more I want to do it. I will find out these cards or _die_! Don’t be alarmed, I don’t mean to die just yet; so I must do the other thing. It’s easy enough, if you know how to do it.

“In the first place I cut the pack into three portions.” (You cut three times, nipping the “long” corners between second finger and thumb, at each of the drawn cards in succession, and placing the cards left at bottom on one or other of the three heaps; then solemnly rub your wand, without remark, with a silk handkerchief, and lay it across the tops of the three packets.)

“Now, if the electric influence is strong enough, the three chosen cards will gradually sink down to the bottom of these three heaps. A nice easy way of finding them out, is it not? It will take a minute or two for the charm to operate, so in the meantime I will try to find out the names of the cards for myself by thought-reading. You drew a card, I think, Sir? Will you kindly think of that card, as hard as you can, and meanwhile look straight at me? Thank you. Judging by physiognomy, I should say that you were rather a ladies’ man. Don’t blush, Sir. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, is it, ladies? But he did blush, didn’t he? Now, being a ladies’ man, you will naturally have chosen one of the ladies of the pack, that is to say one of the queens, and your blush suggests that it was a red queen. Now there are only two red queens to choose from. The queen of hearts represents Love, and the queen of diamonds Money. If I read your thoughts aright I feel safe in declaring that you chose the queen of hearts. That is right, I think? Quite simple, when you know how it’s done.

“And now, Madam, for your card. I can see at a glance that you have a liking for aristocratic society, and you will therefore naturally have chosen a king. But which king? Think hard of your card, please. A picture of a dark-complexioned gentleman comes up before my mind’s eye, and I feel that I can say with confidence that the card you chose was the king of clubs. Am I right?

“And you, Madam. I have an idea that you have a taste for pretty things, particularly jewellery. Such being the case, you would naturally choose diamonds. Think of your card, please. Thank you. I see I was right in my guess. The card you chose was the ten of diamonds.

“And now to verify my discoveries. If my wand has done its work, those same three cards will now have percolated through the rest, and settled down at the bottom of these three heaps. Let us see whether they have done so.” (The three heaps are turned over.) “Yes, here we have them: the king of clubs, the queen of hearts, and the ten of diamonds. It is a curious thing for the cards to do, and I daresay you would like to know how it is done. As a matter of fact, it is done by synthetic re-adjustment of dissociated atoms. You don’t know what that means, perhaps? Well, to say the truth, I don’t quite know myself, but that is the scientific explanation, so no doubt it is correct.”

The trick may very well end at this point, but if the reader possesses a card-box, or other apparatus adapted for “vanishing” cards, he may bring it to a still more striking conclusion. In this case he may continue as follows:

“Now, I should like to show you a curious effect of sympathy. I take away these three cards and hand the rest of the pack to the gentleman who drew the queen of hearts. Kindly hold it up above your head where all can see it. The three drawn cards” (show them one by one) “I place in this box. Again I electrify my wand a little, and lay it across the box. Now I want each gentleman or lady to think of his or her card. Think of it kindly, and feel as if you would like to see it again. Think hard, please, because it is you, not I, that perform this experiment, and if you don’t think hard it will be a failure. I am pleased to see by the expression of your countenances that you are all thinking hard. Thank you very much. You may leave off now. The deed is done. The three cards have left the box, and gone back to the pack. Please look it through, sir, and tell the company whether it is not so.”

The reader, being familiar with the wiles of conjurers, will doubtless have guessed that the three cards supposed to have returned to the pack have in fact never left it, being those naturally belonging to it, corresponding with the three long cards. But to the outsider their supposed return will be, in the words of the lamented Lord Dundreary, “one of those things that no fellow can understand.”

As regards the disappearance of the three cards, the performer is of course by no means restricted to the use of the card-box. If he is an expert in sleight-of-hand, he may with even better effect, “vanish” them one by one by means of the back palm, dropping them a moment later into the profonde.

THE MASCOT COIN BOX

This is a little device on the same principle as the well-known flat card-box, but adapted for use with coins, and with an addition which largely increases its utility inasmuch as it will not only enable the performer to “change” or “vanish,” but to get instant and secret possession of a coin placed in it.

The box (see Fig. 14) is of ebonized wood, unpolished, and in size about three inches square. It consists of two parts (_a_ and _b_), which are alike in size and appearance, so that either half may be regarded as “box” and either as “lid,” at pleasure, according as the one or the other is made uppermost, no difference being perceptible between them. In the centre of each half is a circular well, not quite two inches in diameter.

Used with the box is a thin disc of wood corresponding to that of which the box is made. This is of such diameter as to fall easily from the one well into the other, according to the way in which the box is turned, but on the other hand fits so closely within that its presence or absence is not perceptible to sight. If a coin be laid in the box upon the disc and the box is then closed and turned over, the disc settles down over the coin in the opposite half, either leaving the box apparently empty or exhibiting in place of the original coin a substitute with which the opposite side of the box has been previously loaded.

Thus far, as the reader will doubtless have perceived, the effect produced (save that a coin instead of a card is dealt with) is precisely the same as in the case of the card-box. But the “mascot” has a speciality of its own, in the fact that in that half of the box marked _a_ (see Fig. 14) a horizontal slot is cut on the side opposite to the hinge, just long enough and wide enough to allow the passage of a half-crown. The wood being dead black, this small opening is invisible save to close inspection, which the box is never called upon to undergo.

When it is desired to gain secret possession of a coin lent by one of the company, the lender is invited to place it himself in the box, held open bookwise as in Fig. 14, the side _b_ of the box having been previously loaded with a duplicate coin.

The lender of the coin may place it in whichever side of the box he pleases, but the manner of closing the box will vary accordingly. If he places it in the side _a_, the opposite (or loaded) side is treated as the lid and turned down over _a_. In this case, the coin being already in the slotted half, no turn-over of the box is necessary, the performer having merely to allow the coin to slip out into his hand. In the opposite case, viz., that of the coin being placed in _b_, _a_ is treated as the lid, and the coin being in this case _above_ the disc the box must be turned over before it can be extracted. If preferred the performer can hold the box so that the coin will naturally be placed in _b_, but in this case the turn-over is unavoidable.

When the box is again opened, the duplicate coin is revealed in place of the original, which is meanwhile dealt with as may be necessary for the purpose of the trick. After the borrowed coin has been extracted, the further fall of the disc closes the slot, and bars any possibility of the substitute coin escaping in the same way.

The following will be found an easy way of working the exchange.

“For the purpose of my next experiment,” says the performer, “I shall have to ask the loan of a half-crown; marked in such a way that you can be sure of knowing it again. I should like one, if possible, that has seen some service, for a coin in the course of circulation imbibes a certain amount of magnetic fluid from each person who handles it; and this renders a well-worn coin more susceptible to magical influences than a new one.”

The reason alleged for asking the loan of an old coin is of course “spoof,” but there _is_ a reason; and it is two-fold. In the first place it ensures your getting a coin tolerably like your own; which you have chosen in accordance with that description, and which you have marked after some commonplace fashion, say with a cross scratched upon one of its faces. Secondly, a well-worn coin, having lost the sharp edge which is caused by the milling in a new one, passes the more easily through the slot, which for obvious reasons is kept as narrow as possible.

Performer, advancing toward the person offering the coin, continues:

“I don’t want even to touch the coin myself till the very last moment, so I will ask you meanwhile to put it in this little box. I believe it was built for a watch-case, but as I don’t happen to need one, I use it to hold my money, when I have any, or when I can get somebody to lend me some.”

The box is held open bookwise, as above mentioned, and closed according to circumstances, in one or the other of the two ways described.

“I will now ask some gentleman to take charge of the coin in the box. Who will do so? You will, Sir? Thank you. But stay! I think I heard somebody say (it was only said in a whisper but I heard it) ‘I don’t believe the half crown is in the box.’ It is very sad to find people so suspicious, especially when I take such pains to prove that there is ‘no deception.’ But the gentleman was wrong, you see.” (He opens box, and shows the substitute coin.) “Here it is. Take it out, sir, and keep it in your own hands till I ask you for it again.”

During the delivery of the patter the borrowed coin has been extracted, and the coin exhibited in the box and handed for safe-keeping is, of course, the substitute. The box, as being no longer needed, is laid without remark upon the table, and the trick proceeds, after whatever may have been its intended fashion.

MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS

MONEY-MAKING MADE EASY

_Requirements._ Coin mat loaded with two double pennies, shell side undermost. Lighted candle and velvet mat (with pocket) on table.

_Presentation._ Performer comes forward with coin mat hanging down in his right hand (mouth of loaded space upwards), and asks for the loan of a penny, marked in some conspicuous way. Receiving it on the mat, he shows it, so placed, to the persons, seated on each side of the owner, in so doing making it obvious to them, without remark, that his hands are otherwise empty. Then returning to his table, with the mat and the coin on it still in his hand, he delivers patter to the following effect:

“Now I am going to show you a nice easy way of making money. I was told when I was a small boy, ‘Take care of the pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves.’ I believe they do. The pounds take such good care of themselves that very few of them seem to come my way. But you can make a bit even with pennies, if you know how to set about it. All you need is a really good penny to start with. It doesn’t matter how you get the penny. You may beg, borrow, or steal it. Personally, I prefer to borrow it. If you try the other two ways you get yourself disliked, but you can always get people to lend you things, if you ask prettily; and I’ve always been celebrated for my nice borrowing manner. You must all have noticed that the gentleman lent me a penny without the slightest hesitation. I daresay if I had asked him, he would have made it two-pence, or even six-pence, if he had as much about him. In this case, however, one penny is enough for my purpose; and here it is with the owner’s own mark upon it. Observe that it is just a plain ordinary penny, and you can see for yourselves that it is the only one I have--in my hands, I mean. I am always truthful. As a matter of fact, I believe I have another in my left trouser-pocket, but I promise you that I won’t use it.”

Pass mat, with coin on it, from one hand to the other, showing the hands otherwise empty, and leaving the mat finally in the right hand: then let the marked coin slide off it into left hand, the concealed coins passing with it. Put down the mat, and show all three coins together (the marked coin in front) held between forefinger and thumb, broadside toward the spectators. Thus held, they are, even at a few feet distant, undistinguishable from a single coin.

“Now I am going to make money. Not much, perhaps, in fact only a penny at a time. I shall start by making this one penny into two. Cent per cent is not bad, is it? Observe, I use no violence. It’s all done by kindness. I just warm the coin a little over this candle-flame. That softens the metal and I am able to squeeze another penny out of this one, _so_!”

Show as two accordingly, by sliding off the hindermost coin in its shell, exhibiting it on both sides, and laying it on the table.

“You have all heard of turning an honest penny. Well, this is one way of doing it. It is said, too, that one good turn deserves another, so we’ll try again. I warm the first penny a little more, and again I pull another out of it.” (Draw second double coin from behind the original penny.) “Now we have three, two in my hands” (showing one in each hand) “and one on the table.

“I think I heard somebody say that I couldn’t make any more? I don’t like to do it, because the process takes a good deal out of the original penny, and I might spoil it. On the other hand, I don’t like to decline a challenge, so here goes! I warm these two again, and then, with a little extra pressure, because it naturally becomes more difficult each time, I get yet another penny, as you see. So now, in all, we have four.” (Show those in hand as three, by drawing solid coin out of shell, then, picking up double coin from mat, show as four accordingly.) “Did I hear a lady say ‘Just one more’? Well, then, one more.” (Develop the double coin just picked up, and show as five.) “But here I must really draw the line. If I kept on like this, there would be none of the original penny left. It is already getting weaker and weaker. Besides, there wouldn’t be time for anything else, and I have several still more wonderful things to show you.

“And now to put these extra pennies back again into the original coin. At present it is only one-fifth its proper weight and if the owner tried to pass it in this condition there would be trouble. I should explain, by the way, that these others are not really solid coins: though they look like it. They are what the spiritualists call astral coins, if you know what that means: I don’t quite know myself; so I won’t attempt to explain, but I believe in the Police Courts they are known as ‘duffers.’”

Lay all five coins on the velvet mat, each of the shells slightly overlapping the solid coin to which it belongs.