The above gives the order of the values of the cards only; the suits must, of course, follow in regular sequence, say: Diamonds, clubs, hearts, spades. Example: On the table, face upward, place the five of diamonds, on this the king of clubs, on this the ace of hearts, on this the ten of spades, on this again the six of diamonds; and so on throughout the pack. Thus arranged, the pack may be cut to any extent without disturbing the order of the cards.
The exchange of packs is carried out under cover of a natural movement, as follows:—Performer receives the shuffled pack in the left hand and forthwith places it behind his back, resting the hand on the hip. The right hand is now placed to the rear, ostensibly for the sole purpose of removing the handkerchief from the left tail pocket, with which the performer is subsequently blindfolded; the right hand, however, first relieves the left hand of the shuffled pack and carefully lowers it into the pocket containing the handkerchief and prepared pack; these two latter are then removed together, the cards being placed in the left hand and the handkerchief brought to the front. Performer now requests some member of the audience to blindfold him in order to preclude the possibility of his obtaining assistance from mirrors or other reflecting surfaces. As he makes the request he turns round, thereby casually drawing attention to the cards still in the left hand, and which all present will readily believe to be those shuffled.
The solution will now be clear, but various little additions will, doubtless, suggest themselves in the working of the trick. For instance, the performer may undertake to pick out any card called for, which, with a little practice, will be seen to be easy of accomplishment. If the card asked for is out he will state the fact.
In making this reference I would state that the above doggerel rhyme has been arranged, quite recently, by myself. It will be seen that it gives a totally different order of the cards, a much-needed variation, from the now hackneyed rhyme which for ages has appeared in all works on card conjuring.
Fig. 33.—Balancing Knives
Balancing Feats.—Take three dessert knives and arrange them in triangular fashion upon three tumblers. Upon the triangular space formed by the intersection of the knife blades, deposit a water bottle, and upon the mouth of the bottle an apple, (Fig. 33). It seems quite an impossible feat, but it is readily accomplished.
Another curious experiment in equilibrium is the following: Take a couple of forks and arrange them with their prongs one set over the
Fig. 34.—Balancing Forks other, and stick a silver dollar between the middle prongs, thus uniting the two forks. This accomplished, place the coin flat on the rim of a tumbler, pushing it outward until the two circumferences touch externally. The coin with appendent forks will remain balanced much to the surprise of the company, (Fig. 34). You may follow this up by pouring the water steadily from the glass into a second glass, without disturbing the money or the forks, which remain in equilibrio. The above clever feats may properly be performed at the dinner-table after dessert has been brought on.