Another effective trick can be worked with the card dial, but it requires the assistance of a confederate. Having previously instructed him what to do, you tell the company that any one is at liberty to touch one of the cards during your absence from the room, and on returning you will indicate the card he has touched. Upon your returning hand a pencil to your confederate and request him to touch the cards in rotation until you say “Stop,” when the pencil will rest on the right card. Your confederate must hold the pencil in his right hand with his forefinger resting on top. When he touches the right card he must raise that finger slightly. It is a signal no one would notice, and the trick always creates a great deal of wonder.
HOW TO GUESS CARDS THOUGHT OF
Allow the pack to be shuffled freely and then place it on the table face down. Take the three top cards, and holding them up with their backs towards you, ask some one to 23 think of one. Then spread them face down on the table in front of you. Take three more cards, and ask a second person to think of one, and lay these on top of the other three. Show three more cards to a third person, and after he has thought of one, lay these on top of the others. You have now three parcels on the table, each containing three cards. Hold up one parcel, and say to each person: “Is the card you thought of in this lot?” Proceed in the same way with the other parcels, and then tell each person the name of the card he thought of. As the cards shown to the first person were laid on the table first, it stands to reason that the cards he thought of must be at the bottom of the parcel he has said “Yes” to; the second person’s card will be the middle one in the parcel, and the third person’s the top card.
AN INGENIOUS CARD TRICK
Select ten cards, regardless of suit, the ace, and from deuce to ten, arranging them as follows: Lay the ten face down on the palm of your hand, the nine next, and the others in rotation, finishing with the ace, which you call “one.” Give the cards so arranged to a friend, and tell him you will leave the room while he moves cards one at a time, not to exceed nine, from top to bottom, and when you return you will tell him how many he has shifted. You may repeat this feat successfully several times, and finish by requesting him to make up his mind how many cards he intends moving before you leave the room and you will tell him which card will indicate the number he 24 has selected. On returning you immediately refer him to the card which gives the correct answer. This is really a most puzzling trick and yet an easy one to perform. Commence by showing how the cards are to be moved by shifting a few yourself, noting how many you move, so you will remember which card you leave at the bottom. When you return to the room you subtract the number of pips on that card from ten and the product will show the number of the card from the top, the pips on which indicate the number of cards your friend has moved. We will suppose that, in illustrating, you move four cards, which will, of course, leave the four at the bottom; you subtract four from ten, which leaves six, and no matter how many cards have been moved the pips on the sixth from the top will indicate the number. Taking the pack in your hand face downward, count off the first six cards, and glancing at the sixth say, “You moved —— cards.” When you repeat the trick add the number originally at the bottom to the number your friend has moved, which will give the number now at the bottom, which you again subtract from ten. In predicting the number of cards your friend means to move you tell him the number of the card from the top which will show it. We will suppose the bottom card is eight and your friend mentally decides upon moving five cards, you subtract eight from ten, which leaves two, and tell him the number he is going to move will be indicated by the pips on the second card from the top after he has moved the cards.
TO NAME A CARD WHICH SOME ONE HAS THOUGHT OF
Spread six cards before a member of the company and ask him to think of one. Place these cards at the bottom of the pack and give the latter a “false shuffle,” i.e. shuffle them in such a manner that the bottom cards are not disturbed. Then take the four top cards, and spreading them on the table, faces upward, ask your friend if his card is among them. Of course, he will say “No.” While he is looking at the cards on the table “slip” (Hercat’s Card Tricks, p. 10) one of the bottom cards to the top of the pack. To do this moisten the tips of the two middle fingers of the left hand, and holding the pack in that hand with the moistened fingers against the face of the bottom card, with the thumb and two middle fingers of the right hand raise the rest of the cards slightly and the card adhering to the moistened fingers will be carried to the top of the pack. Again spread the four top cards on the table and repeat the enquiry. If he says “No,” repeat the former process until he says, “Yes, my card is in that lot.” You, of course, know it is the card you “slipped” from the bottom of the pack. You then tell him to gather up all the cards and shuffle them thoroughly; then place the pack on the table, put his hand over it and look you steadily in the eye. You place your hand over his and say, “I can read your thoughts, you took the ——,” naming his card. This is an easy trick to perform and causes great amazement.
THE REJECTED RECRUITS—A LAUGHABLE TRICK
Select a king and the four knaves and lay the king on the table face upward. Tell the company that the king is recruiting for the army and accepts the knave of clubs, which you place on the king’s right. The knave of spades, which you place on the left, he rejects. The knave of diamonds is accepted and placed on the right. The knave of hearts is declined, and placed on the left.
Now ask your audience how it is that the king, being in want of recruits, accepts two and refuses two.