Arrangement of a Rosary of Thirty-two Cards:

It must be remembered that, when the cards are thus arranged, however often the pack is cut, the order of the cards remains the same.

When a Greek has substituted a pack of cards, arranged à chapelet for another, and has made a false shuffle which does not alter them, he will easily know what cards his adversary holds, by looking at his own hand.

For example at Écarté, if he holds—

He will know that his adversary has—

The turn-up card will be the eight of spades; and knowing all the other cards which follow after this, he can demand or refuse them, as he judges best.

It is, at the games of Vingt-et-un, Baccarat, and Lansquenet, that this cheating is the most dangerous, as well as the most easily accomplished. The packs are changed beforehand, and even though they may be really properly shuffled, it will be some time before the order of the cards is completely altered. Some few cards may be displaced, but the Greek manages to play on, and to know the card which is coming, by having seen the one which precedes it.

[CHAPTER X.]
THE RING FOR MARKING.

The Greek sometimes carries his trickery even into the domains of science; of which the instrument I am about to describe is a proof.

If this jewel had not been invented for the sole purpose of cheating, one would have been tempted to admire it.

The ring, shown in [figure 24], is known by the name of a trépan. It is hollow, and forms a kind of reservoir, which is filled with very liquid ink. This liquid would escape by a small opening, at the point A, but that the capillary attraction retains the ink at its mouth. In short, it is a kind of pen with a reservoir.

As this point is hidden in the inside of the hand, the Greek can, at any moment, mark the cards he pleases, with an almost imperceptible spot, before the very eyes of his adversary.

These spots can, as I have before explained, by the manner in which they are placed, mark particular cards.

Fig. 24.

The Greek also makes use of this instrument to cheat at dominoes.

For this purpose, the ring is a very massive one, and the point alluded to is made of steel, and very sharp.

It is easy to understand, that when the Greek has the dominoes in his hands, in moving them about on the table, he can put a mark on them, so as to know them again.

The point of the ring, fine as it is, is blunted, so that the marks it makes are so light and shining, as to awaken no suspicion, and it is only to the eyes of the sharper, who has made them, that they are visible.

[CHAPTER XI.]
THE REFLECTING SNUFF-BOX.

As I am on the subject of curiosities of art, here is another, which is also very clever.

It is difficult to believe that a snuff-box can be made an instrument for cheating.

The Greek, when placing himself at the table to play, puts down a snuff-box, on the lid of which is a small medallion of the size of a franc, enclosing a miniature.

It is the portrait of a lady exquisitely painted.

The eyes of the players naturally turn to this object, and they sometimes even take it up to admire, or display it to their friends.

When the game has begun, the Greek takes a pinch of snuff, which gives him the opportunity of drawing the box towards him.

But, at the same time, he presses an invisible spring, which withdraws the portrait, and in its place out comes a convex glass, which is of the greatest utility to him; for, when he is dealing, this mirror being underneath the cards which he deals to his adversary, he has only to look in it to see the reflection of the cards he is giving.

During the evening, the Greek makes the medallion return, and offers a pinch of snuff to his victims.

[CHAPTER XII.]
APPLICATION OF THE PRECEDING PRINCIPLES.

Arrangement of the pack—Coups de piquet—How to repique and capot an adversary—How to repique and capot an adversary although he has shuffled the cards—Abstraction and substitution of cards—Coup d'écarté—Jeu de règle—Lansquenet—Baccarat—Vingt-et-un, &c. &c.