Water Wizardry: A collection of tricks in which water is the chief agent

by Arthur Ainslie

MISCELLANEOUS WATER TRICKS

The average beginner usually despises a very easy trick, simply because it is easy. Maybe it is for that reason that one seldom hears of a young amateur including the "Wine and Water" trick in his repertoire. I once heard a young amateur state his objection to the trick.

"Oh, it's so obviously just a chemical experiment," he said.

He was wrong. If the trick is presented properly it will not be "just a chemical experiment" but a very entertaining little bit of magic—simple in its effect, and very short. The trick used to be in the repertoire of Mr. David Devant, and other notable magicians have performed it in public.

There are many ways of presenting the trick, but I do not think that anyone has ever beaten Mr. Devant's method, which I give now with his permission. The effect is so clear that the youngest child in the audience can follow it.

Standing in a row on a tray on the table are four tumblers and a small glass jug, with water in it. The conjurer picks up the jug in one hand, a glass in another, pours out a little water and returns it to the jug. Then he puts the glass down and pours a little water into each glass; the glasses should be about half full. The audience are—or should be—surprised to see that although the liquid in the first and third glasses is undoubtedly water, the second and fourth glasses contain wine, or ink, or stout, or whatever the conjurer is pleased to call it; it is a black fluid.

The conjurer puts the jug down and, taking up the first and second glasses, mixes the contents together, with the result that he gets one glass full of "wine"; he pours this into the jug and all the water in the jug is immediately turned into wine. The conjurer then mixes the contents of the third and fourth glasses together, and he gets a glass of clear water. Pouring this into the jug he causes all the "wine" in it to change at once into clear water. Thus, at the finish of the trick the conjurer returns to the point at which he started—with a jug of water and four empty glasses.

The whole secret is in the "doctoring" of the four glasses. The preparations must be made carefully, and when presenting it in a strange place it is always necessary to try it out beforehand, because the quantities of the chemicals used which are sufficient to work the trick in one district may be quite wrong for the water of another district.

The glasses are prepared in this way. The first contains a teaspoonful of a saturated solution of tannin; the second and fourth glasses contain a few drops of a saturated solution of perchloride of iron, known to some chemists as "steel drops"; the third glass contains a few drops of a saturated solution of oxalic acid.

The object of pouring water into the first glass and tipping it back into the jug is to mix the tannin with the water in the jug. Directly he has done this the conjurer must be brisk in his movements, because after the tannin has been put in the water soon becomes slightly cloudy.

The exact quantities of the chemicals required can only be determined by experiment. Having settled that matter the conjurer has only to carry out the instructions already given. The second and fourth glasses will then have "wine" in them, and the first and third water. The contents of the first and second mixed together will be "wine," and when poured into the jug will cause the water left in the jug to change into "wine." The oxalic acid in the third glass does the trick of taking all the colour out of the contents of the fourth glass, and when he has poured that into the jug the conjurer finishes, as he began, with a "jug of water."

The jug should be taken away at once, because the water will probably become dull and clouded in the course of a few minutes. The "water," by the way, is poisonous; to avoid any chance of an accident the conjurer should pour it away at once, and should also see that the glasses and jug are well washed.

If fairly large tumblers are used the steel drops can be "rinsed" round the two tumblers (the second and fourth) just before the performance begins, and those tumblers can then be placed upside down on a tray; this position negatives the idea that there is anything in the tumblers at the beginning of the trick.

The Vanishing Glass of Water

To cause a glass of water to vanish is hardly a complete trick, but it may well form part of many magical experiments. Thus, if you are presenting the "Rice Bowls" (see Chapter V) you can proceed with the trick up to the point when the rice has been secretly removed and the water is in readiness for the final effect. Leave the bowls as they are, one inverted on the other, and show a silk hat to the audience, letting them see inside it.

Now pick up a jug of water with your right hand and throw a large handkerchief over your right arm. With the left hand take a tumbler from the table, pour some water into it, and take it with the disengaged fingers of the right hand, so that with your left hand you can take the handkerchief from your right arm and throw it over the glass.

Directly you have done this, hold the glass, through the handkerchief, with the left hand and put the jug down on the table. The right hand drapes the handkerchief round the glass. Pause for a second, and then flick the handkerchief into the air. The glass of water has vanished.

Go to the silk hat and take from it a glass full of rice. The glass is apparently that which has just vanished and the rice is that which the audience think is in the lower bowl. Then go to the bowls and "discover" the missing water.

Fig. 13

The disappearance of the glass of water is managed in this way. The handkerchief is really made of two handkerchiefs sewn together; sewn between them, in the centre, is a round piece of cardboard of the size of the top of the glass. When you throw the handkerchief over the glass you get the disc of cardboard exactly over the top of the glass. Take the glass in the left hand and tap it once against the top of the jug—just to let the audience be convinced that it is there. Then, as you take it away, drop it into the jug, which has been provided with a cloth or india-rubber bag for its reception. The bag is stiffened at the top. Of course, the cardboard disc conveys the impression that the glass is still under the handkerchief. The jug must be either a china or a metal one.

If you wish to use the vanish of the glass of water in the way I have suggested—in conjunction with the rice bowls—it will be necessary to have an opera hat with a hinged flap in the centre. Cut a piece of stiff cardboard of the size of the crown of the hat. To the centre of this fasten, by means of strips of black linen, a small, semicircular piece of cardboard, which will thus be hinged to the other piece. Cover the whole of this "fake" with black silk and put it into the open hat. The top of the hinged flap should be about half-way down the hat when the flap is resting against one side of the hat. It is an easy matter to hide a glass under the flap, and that glass is nearly filled with rice, which is prevented from coming out by means of a little plug of paper. By holding the fingers against the flap and the thumb on the brim of the hat it is an easy matter to prevent the glass from falling out when you casually hold the hat up for inspection by the audience. Keep the hat moving, and the audience will not see the flap. Put the hat down, letting the flap swing over to the other side of the hat. Then, when you wish to produce the glass of rice all you have to do is to pull out the plug of paper, leave it in the hat, and take out the glass. Pour the rice out on to a tray and then produce the water from the bowl, and pour it backwards and forwards from one bowl to another.

If you are using the metal bowls this vanish of the glass of water helps to fill in the time occupied by the water running from the top bowl to the one underneath it.

The Vanishing Water

Pour some water into a tumbler until it is about half full. Place a short cardboard cylinder over the glass; when you lift the cylinder the glass is empty, and the cylinder is held with one end facing the audience; there is nothing inside it.

This is a very simple "vanish." The glass has a detachable lining of transparent celluloid which will hold water. The presence of the lining in the glass is not noticed. All that the conjurer has to do is to take care not to put too much water into the "glass," because if he does he may find a difficulty in lifting the lining out in the only way in which it can be lifted out. The cover is placed over the glass. In removing the cover the conjurer holds it with his thumb outside and his middle finger, which should be moistened, inside. Two fingers pull up the celluloid lining and hold it tightly against the cover, which, of course, hides it for a moment while the conjurer picks up the glass and shows that the water has vanished. While he does this he puts the cover down on his table for a moment and lets the celluloid lining sink gently down into a "well" in the table. A "well" is the conjurer's name for a hole in the top of the table. The top of the table is covered with black velvet, and the inside of the hole is lined with the same material. If there is a pattern of gold braid on the top of the table—though even this is not necessary if one is performing on a stage—the hole cannot be seen by the audience, even if they are a few feet away from the table.

Fig. 14

The action of putting the cover down in a natural way, and not gingerly, as though the conjurer was afraid of something inside it, must be practised and, of course, the cover must be raised again at the earliest possible moment and shown to be empty.

The mere vanishing of water in this way is not a complete trick in itself; it should be combined with other tricks. The milk can, explained later on in this chapter, will serve for the purpose of the reproduction of the water, and if the conjurer will provide himself with an extra celluloid lining, load it with three or four handkerchiefs and place it behind a hat or some piece of apparatus on the table, he can easily build up a little trick.

Having shown the milk can to be empty, he fills the glass, covers it, and leaves it covered for a few moments while he shows some silk handkerchiefs similar to those in the "fake." He "vanishes" these handkerchiefs magically and shows his hands empty, or, if he prefers to do so, he can have another prepared glass similar to the first and put the handkerchiefs in that, so that he has a glass containing handkerchiefs on one side of his table and a glass containing water on the other, and the milk can in the centre. He lifts the cover from the handkerchiefs and shows that they have disappeared; of course, the "vanish" is managed in the same way, the celluloid lining of the glass containing the handkerchiefs going down another "well" in the table.

Then the conjurer vanishes the water in the way described and having got rid of the "fake," lifts the cover to show that it is empty and puts it down over a similar fake (but containing handkerchiefs similar to those which have been vanished). This fake can be standing behind an opera hat on the table, and the conjurer should take away the hat as he puts the cover down over the fake. He must not convey the impression that he is trying to hide the cover behind the hat. He then replaces the cover over the empty tumbler.

The position of things at this stage of the trick should be clear to the audience. The milk can was shown to be empty; the conjurer has caused some handkerchiefs and some water to vanish from two tumblers, one of which is left uncovered. Going to the uncovered one the conjurer lifts the cover and shows the handkerchiefs, and he can at once pour the water from the milk can.

I do not suggest for a moment that that would be a particularly good trick to do; I merely describe it in order to start you thinking of some other article which might be added to the water and the handkerchiefs to make a still more puzzling trick. A glance through any catalogue of tricks will surely enable you to concoct a very fair trick on these lines.

The Aquarius Tube

Now, here is a trick of a different kind, one which is quite complete in itself. The inventor is unknown to me and I have not been able to discover his name. In common with some other conjurers I have always been under the impression that Mr. Claude Chandler invented this trick, but he tells me that he is not the inventor and he does not know by whom the trick was originated.

The effect is quite simple and not difficult to obtain. The conjurer comes forward with a small piece of brown paper in his left hand. He shows both sides of it, rolls it into a tube and pours water into the tube. To the surprise of the audience the water remains in the tube. The conjurer puts two fingers into the lower end of the tube and draws out a quantity of coloured paper ribbons, perfectly dry; when all the ribbons are on the table there is quite a little mound of them. The conjurer afterwards unrolls the paper and throws it on one side, showing that it is not prepared in any way for the trick.

That is the trick known as the Aquarius tube, but most conjurers would naturally wish to extend it by producing flags from the paper ribbons, and this would not be a difficult matter.

In order to do this trick a small metal tube, closed at both ends, with a hole in one end is required. The tube is about the height of a pony glass, with a slightly smaller diameter. When the trick was first invented the tube was made in the form of an "unspillable" ink-well. (See illustration A.) Thus, when the water was poured in (in a way which I will describe presently) there was no risk that the water would run out even if the tube was inverted. The tube in that form was "safe," but a little too safe, because of the difficulty of emptying it after a performance; it had to be shaken vigorously to clear it of water.

Mr. Harry Leat, therefore, improved the tube. (See illustration B.) It will be seen that in the improved tube there is a short length of a very small tube attached to the hole in the top of the tube, and in order to facilitate the task of emptying the tube there is a hole at the other end; this hole is closed during the performance of the trick by an india-rubber plug. It will be noticed that in both tubes the base is not flush with the lower edge, but is fastened about half an inch from the edge. Thus, there is space at the bottom of the tube for a small coil of paper ribbons. (The rubber plug comes in the centre of the coil.)

Fig. 15

If a small quantity of water is poured into this tube it can be inverted without any fear of the water running out, but, of course, if too much water is used and the tube is turned upside down a small quantity of water is bound to escape. For myself, I see no object in turning the tube upside down. After the conjurer has made a tube of paper and has poured water into it and has shown that the water does not run out from the other end, I do not see that he gains anything by turning the tube upside down. (It will be understood, of course, that the metal tube is secretly introduced into the paper tube. I am coming to that.)

Having poured the water into the tube the conjurer makes one or two mystic passes over it and then pulls out the paper ribbons; directly these have been well started they will uncoil and fall from the tube in a heap on the table.

How does the conjurer manage to get rid of the "fake" containing the water? By camouflage. The "fake" tube is painted to match the ribbons. When the ribbons have been produced the conjurer holds up a handful near the end of the tube and calls attention to their colours. He then lets the tube slide down out of the paper tube behind the ribbons and puts the lot on the table again. The "fake," being the same colour as the ribbons, is not noticed. If the conjurer has two or three handkerchiefs on the table to act as a pad he can let the tube fall down on the table, but he must bring the end of the paper tube as near to the table as possible when the metal "fake" is to fall, otherwise there will be an audible "thud."

The "fake" is introduced into the paper tube in a very simple manner. The piece of brown paper should be about fifteen inches square. The conjurer holds this in his left hand with his fingers behind the paper and thumb in front of it. Unknown to the audience the conjurer is holding the "fake" behind the paper. In order to show both sides of the paper the conjurer brings up the free end with his right hand until it reaches the left thumb, which then takes it. At the same time he releases the end which he has been holding with his left thumb and that end naturally falls down. The audience have seen both sides of the paper, but the "fake" is still behind the paper in the left hand. This "move" is quite a natural one, and is very easy; if the conjurer will try it in front of a mirror he will see that it is also deceptive.

The conjurer, using both hands, now rolls the paper round the tube and finally holds the tube near the lower end in his left hand; it is as well to extend the little finger under the paper tube to prevent the "fake" from falling.

The water should be poured into the paper tube in a thin stream. The quantity of water required must be ascertained by experiment. The conjurer then makes a few mystic passes below and over the tube with his right hand, puts two fingers into the lower end of the tube and starts the ribbons; they will fall at once into a heap on the table. I should mention that before loading the "fake" with the coil the outer ribbon on the coil should be torn; if it is not the end of the falling ribbons will be a ring of paper, which will look suspicious. The centre end of the coil should also be pulled out half an inch, so that the conjurer does not have to fumble to get hold of it.

If the conjurer wishes to produce flags at the end of the experiment he can have them in a bundle in a "well" in the table, and then all he has to do is to pick up some of the ribbons with his left hand, at the same time getting his thumb into a wire loop round the bundle. Then he breaks the thread tied round the bundle and carries on to the end of the trick.

Links

In this trick the conjurer fills a tumbler or goblet with water and drops in a number of links from a chain. (A small brass curtain chain which has been pulled to pieces answers well for the trick.) The conjurer "fishes" into the tumbler with a long buttonhook and gets hold of one of the links; all the others come with it, because the links are joined together.

Here we make use of what is known as a "mirror" glass. A thick cut-glass tumbler is divided in the centre by two pieces of looking-glass cemented together. The glass is held in the left hand with one side of the mirror facing the audience; hidden in the compartment behind the mirror is a short length of chain. Having filled the glass with water the conjurer puts it down on the table for a moment while he draws attention to the separate links. He picks up the mirror-glass with his left hand and drops in all the separate links into the front compartment of the glass. (The water helps to disguise the presence of the mirror in the glass.) Then the conjurer brings his right hand over to the glass, takes it in that hand and immediately brings his hand right round to his right. Thus he has turned the glass round without having apparently done anything out of the ordinary; the audience see what they believe to be the separate links in the glass. The conjurer then takes the glass with his left hand, the fingers, being in front of the glass, help to hide the mirror. Then—well, the rest is easy! Directly the chain has been taken out the conjurer should put the glass down behind some piece of apparatus on the table; the audience cannot be permitted to gaze at it for any length of time.

Fig. 16

The Milk Cans

You have seen the toy milk cans in a shop? By having two of these "faked" in the way shown in the illustrations you can compose two or three little tricks. I have already explained a trick in which one of the cans can be used.

Fig. 17

It will be seen that if water is placed in one of the cans and the can is held with the faked side downwards the can can be shown to be empty, because the water will not run out, but if the can is held with the faked side uppermost the water can be poured out. Of course, the audience cannot be permitted to have a very close view of the interiors of the cans.

Here is one way of using two of these cans in a trick. Have one loaded with water and the other empty. Show the audience that both are empty and put them down on the opposite sides of your table. Pour water into the can which really is empty and command it to pass to the other can. You can then make the water travel invisibly back to the first can.

In the course of your "patter" you will probably not miss the chance of talking about the milk cans and the other liquid which is sometimes supposed to be put into milk—an old joke, but one which audiences almost seem to expect.

Water from Waste Paper

For this trick you require two large aluminium drinking cups just alike. One of them is filled with water and is then closed with an india-rubber cap (procurable at any conjuring shop). Gummed on to this cap are little bits of newspaper. The cup is then hidden in a box of pieces of newspaper.

Come forward with the empty cup in your hands and fill it with the paper by dipping it into the box. Add a handful of paper with the left hand and then tip the lot back into the box. Repeat the movements. At the third attempt leave the empty cup hidden in the box of waste paper and get hold of the cup filled with water. Add a little more paper to the top of this cup with the left hand and then remove one or two pieces; this helps to convince the audience that the cup is really filled with loose bits of paper. Close the lid of the box and stand the cup on it. Cover the cup with a small thick silk handkerchief.

In removing the handkerchief you can easily "nip off" the rubber cover with the thumb, and you leave it hidden in the handkerchief while you pour the water out of the cup.

By having two boxes—or one larger one—the trick can be repeated, but it would not be advisable to produce water from both cups. Let the second production be a surprise. If you are performing to children you can have no better production than sweets, which, of course, you give away.

This trick is also performed with specially prepared cups with lids. The cups in the boxes are closed with other lids (flush with the top), and thus when they are brought up out of the boxes some loose paper is on the top of each of the secret lids and the cups appear to be full of paper. The "visible" lid is then put on to each cup, and when these lids are removed they bring away with them the secret lids and the little paper which was on the top of them. Then the real contents of the cups are produced.

Cotton Wool to Water

For this trick I use an old piece of apparatus known to conjurers as the "coffee vase," and I mention it here because my method of using it differs from that usually employed.

The vase is a tall, straight one on a foot; it is usually made of polished tin. There is a separate metal lining to this vase; this lining is of the shape shown in the illustration. It will be seen that the bottom of the lining does not come down to the bottom of the vase, and that the outside part of the lining goes over the outside of the vase and extends to the whole length of the vase. Therefore, it is impossible to tell, from looking at the outside of the vase, whether the lining is inside or whether the vase is what you say it is—an empty vase.

Fig. 18

There is also a cardboard cover which fits over the vase, a little metal cup, acting as a lid, which fits loosely into the top of the lining, and a lid with a knob for a handle which fits closely into this secret cup or lid. The secret lid has a little cotton wool placed on it.

This is the usual way of working the trick. The lining, with its "secret" lid on the top of it, is placed inside the cover and stood upon the table. The conjurer shows the vase, and as at the moment it is free from preparation he can rattle his wand inside it and show that it is really empty. He then fills it with cotton wool, taking care to put in the wool in little pieces and not pressing it down. He then "explains"—and I ask you to remember that this is not my way of presenting the trick—that the original way of doing the trick was by covering the vase with a cardboard cylinder. He puts on the cover and so gets the lining into the vase. The lining, of course, has been previously filled with coffee, or milk, or water, or some other liquid; the bottom of the lining presses down the cotton wool in the vase into a very small compass.

Now, when the conjurer removes the cover the audience see the pieces of cotton wool at the top of the secret lid on the lining, and apparently no change has been made. The conjurer goes on to explain that the modern method of doing the trick consists in merely putting "this little lid" on the cotton wool. (Cotton wool, is easily compressible, and there is sufficient space between the bottom of the lining and the bottom of the vase for all the cotton wool which was placed loosely in the vase.) Naturally, when the conjurer takes off the lid he brings away inside it the secret lid and the little pieces of cotton wool which were on that lid, and he can pour out any liquid which was in the "lining" to the vase.

Every trick has its weak point, and it seems to me that the weak point of that version of the trick is found by the audience when they realise that they are not permitted to see that the cover is empty before it is placed over the vase. I admit that the appearance of the vase is not altered in any way after the cover has been removed. The exterior is just the same and the audience see the little pile of cotton wool at the top. Still, I have never liked that method.

I dispense with the secret lid or cup to the lining and, therefore, with the "visible" lid to it. At the commencement of the trick I have the inner lining, nearly filled with water, in the vase, and the cover empty. I begin by showing that the cover really is empty, and to show that it fits over the vase I drop it over the vase and lift it off again. I replace the cover and then, as a kind of afterthought, say: "I never showed you the vase; of course, there is nothing in that." This time, when taking off the cover I take off the inner lining by pinching the cover tightly and leave it for a moment hidden in the cover. Then I fill the vase with cotton wool and put on the cover. The audience have seen the cover empty and they have seen the empty vase filled with cotton wool. Of course, when I take off the cover I can at once pour out the water.

It is advisable to have the cover made of tin. When you are putting a cardboard cover with the metal lining inside it over the vase it is not an easy matter to prevent the lining from knocking against the top of the vase, and if you are performing at close quarters the audience may hear the "chink" of metal against metal. You get over that difficulty by having the cover made of tin.

If you want to raise a laugh easily at the close of this trick you can pretend to overhear someone say that the water is not real water. You at once pour some into a cup and throw it—apparently—over the heads of the audience, but instead of a shower of water they get a shower of confetti.

Fig. 19

This is managed by means of a "confetti cup," which is a metal teacup on a saucer. The cup is divided by a partition in the centre and the front compartment is filled with confetti. There is a hole in the bottom of the other compartment and it is there that you pour the water. Where does the water go to? Into the saucer, which is somewhat suspiciously thick. There is a hole in the centre of the saucer and the hole in the bottom of the cup goes exactly over the hole in the saucer. Thus, when the water is poured into the cup it finds its way directly into the saucer and the cup can at once be lifted up. The trick is more suitable for a stage than for a drawing-room; even a little confetti makes a big litter in a room. Still, some good-natured hostesses, if asked if they would have any objection to a litter of confetti in a room, would be sure to reply: "Not the slightest, do what you like as long as you amuse the children."

Silk from Water

Most conjurers like to conclude a performance with a showy trick, one in which they can produce a quantity of ribbons and flags, finishing up with the production of a Union Jack—the bigger the better.

Fig. 20

Here is a trick of that kind. The conjurer begins by showing a large metal cylinder closed at one end. He rattles his wand inside it and then holds it with its end facing the audience. But he does not hold it perfectly still. If he is performing in a room with the front rows of his audience close to him the utmost he can do—in the way of showing the interior of the cylinder—is to point it to the audience on his right and then bring it round with a quick sweep to the audience on his left. It is as well to have an assistant for this trick, but the assistant must be "in the know"—the conjurer's very own assistant, because he—or, better still, she—is asked to hold the cylinder with both hands while the conjurer fills it with water, and the conjurer cannot allow a member of the audience to undertake that task.

The water should be poured in from a height, so that the audience can see that real water is used, and that it really does go into the cylinder. The conjurer puts the jug down and peeps into the cylinder as though he were expecting something to happen. Of course, the trick could be brought to a conclusion at once, but you may well pause here for a moment—just to "work up the excitement."

You dip your hand into the cylinder and take it out dripping with water. "Just wet water," you say, "very wet." Dip your hand in again. "Still wet." Repeat the action, but this time you remark that here is something which is "quite dry," and you take out an American flag. The little joke may, or may not be, discovered by the audience, but probably some of the older members will see it. You then continue to produce a quantity of flags and finally finish up with the Union Jack, which, of course, must be larger than any of the other flags you have produced.

But the trick is not yet over, because as you produce the last flag your assistant, knowing what to do, pours out the water from the cylinder.

This effect is produced in a simple manner. The cylinder is divided down the centre into two compartments. The top of the partition does not come up to the top of the cylinder because one compartment, filled with flags before the commencement of the trick, is closed with a little semi-circular lid, and as this lid has to be opened before the flags can be produced it follows that if it were level with the top of the cylinder it would be seen. The whole of the interior is painted a dull black.

Care must be taken in pouring the water into the cylinder; if it is poured on to the top of the lid there will be a visible splash above the top of the cylinder, which would give the trick away.

Your assistant, having rehearsed the trick with you, knows just what you are going to do, and, therefore, when you dip your hand into the cylinder for the third time to get at the first flag she tilts the cylinder slightly towards you and holds it in such a way that you can lift the lid quickly.

Another cylinder for producing the same effect has the secret compartment in the centre. The compartment is a round tube closed at the mouth with an india-rubber cap. This cylinder usually has a foot to it, and this makes it more convenient for the assistant to hold. Besides, knowing that the secret compartment is in the centre the conjurer does not have to be over careful as to the way in which he pours in the water; as long as the spout of the jug is near the edge of the cylinder he knows that he is safe. I used one of these cylinders at St. George's Hall some years ago.

It is advisable to produce a flag in the first place, because you are then able to get away with the india-rubber cover behind it; the cover can easily be pulled away and hidden afterwards as you put the flag down.

It is a good plan, after the production of the first flag, to take out a number of compressible things. If you are performing to children they will like nothing better than two or three bundles of carrots. These imitation carrots are made with springs inside them, and they can be packed in a very small compass. Imitation flowers, sausages, balls and other things are also made in such a way that they can be packed in a very small space, but when they are produced they expand to the usual size. If you adopt this plan you apparently take out of the tube far more than could possibly be put into it. These things can be followed with a few "throw-outs," as they are called—little coils of bright tissue paper ribbons; the conjurer gets hold of the end and throws the coil away from him when the ribbons spread out, making a good display. After these can come a large number of silk handkerchiefs of bright colours, and finally the flags.

Care should be taken in displaying all these things after they are produced. You lose half the effect of the trick if you merely dump them down in an untidy heap. One flag can be hung on the assistant's arm, another over a chair, and another in front of the table, and so on, the object being to leave the audience with some kind of a "spectacle."

The one drawback to this very easy, but very effective trick is the anti-climax produced by the water being poured out of the vase at the end of the trick. You really want the end of the trick to be the production of the big Union Jack, and yet if you do not have the water poured out you lose some of the effect of the trick.

You can get over this difficulty by producing the Union Jack in another way, and this will give you a little more room in the vase for other flags. Let the last of these be a Union Jack of the same size as the others and drape it with the others over the back of a chair. Then have the water poured out of the vase and the audience will think that you have come to the conclusion of the trick and will begin to applaud—or it is to be hoped they will! Then take several of the flags from the back of the chair and produce a large Union Jack on a flagstaff; this makes an excellent finish to the trick.

The flagstaff is a telescopic one; the flag is pleated and rolled up, and the staff is concealed in a little bag hung behind the chair over which you drape the flags. To cause the staff to open, grasp the handle tightly and "shoot" it out with its point towards the floor for a moment; this is a very important point, because if you are performing in a room you may, in the excitement of the moment, do someone a serious injury if you merely "shoot" out the flag towards the audience. The flagstaff should be of the kind known as "self-locking"; that is to say, when every joint is out the staff can immediately be raised to a vertical position without any fear that the staff will collapse; it will remain rigid until you wish to close it. Wave the flag, allowing the other flags to fall from your hands to the floor, and if you do not finish your performance to loud applause the fault will not be yours.