The requisites for this trick are as under:
1. Three small billiard balls, one red, two white.
2. A white half-shell to correspond, vested or placed in a pochette.
3. Three hollow wooden dice, each of such a size as just to contain one of the balls, and lined inside with velvet to prevent “talking.” One side of each is left open, but the opening can be closed at pleasure by the insertion of a loose side with a beveled edge. When this is in position, the die appears solid. The inner surface of each of the loose sides is also covered with black velvet, so that when lying with that side upwards on a black art table it is practically invisible.
4. Three cardboard covers, fitting easily over the dice. In preparation for the trick the three balls are placed inside the dice, and these are placed on the table, open side upward, but with the loose sides inserted on top, and the covers over them.
Presentation. The opening “yarn” may run as follows:
“I once read a story about a man who invented a most ingenious piece of furniture of the ‘combination’ kind. It started, say, as a table, but by giving it a pull here and a push there, it became a step-ladder. Another pull and push, and it turned into a mangle, or by just turning a button or two, you could make it a clothes-horse.
“The story says that at first it was a great success, but after a little while the thing began to work too easily, and sometimes changed of its own accord when least expected, which was a drawback. It was annoying, naturally, when you were using it as a step-ladder, and hanging up a picture, to have it suddenly turn into a clothes-horse, and land you on the floor. It was vexing, too, when it was a table, and the family were seated round it at breakfast, to have it turn into a mangle, and mangle the cups and saucers.
“I shouldn’t care myself to have a piece of furniture like that: it would make life too exciting. But the story gave me an idea. It struck me what a convenience it would be, after showing one of my little experiments, to be able to turn the articles I had been using into what I wanted for the next. I haven’t got very far as yet, but I have made a beginning in a small way, and I will show you how it’s done.