Fig. 17.
Second Method.—This is a very inferior mode of performing the change, but may be useful as a makeshift while the student is acquiring the greater dexterity required for the former method. Hold the pack upright towards the audience, with the card to be changed at the bottom (and therefore in full view), and the card for which it is to be changed at the top. The pack should be supported by both hands, and the two cards named should project about half an inch to the right beyond the remainder of the pack, the front or bottom card being between the first and second fingers, and the back or top card between the thumb and first finger of the right hand. (See [Fig. 17].) Call attention to the bottom card; make a downward sweep with the pack so as to turn the faces of the cards towards the ground, and at the same moment draw off with the right hand the top card, which the audience will imagine to be the one they have just seen at the bottom.
Fig. 18.
Third Method.—Hold the card to be changed face downwards between the thumb and first and second fingers of the right hand, the thumb being above and the two fingers below the card. Hold the pack in the left hand, as if about to deal the cards, the card for which that first mentioned is to be changed being on the top. Bring the hands rapidly together, pushing the top card with the left thumb about an inch beyond the rest of the pack, and at the same moment place the card held in the right hand with a sliding motion upon the top of the pack. (See [Fig. 18].) Both this card and the original top card (which is now second) will now be between the two fingers and thumb of the right hand. Press lightly on the top card with the left thumb to keep it back, and quickly draw away the right hand, pressing gently upwards with the two fingers on the face of the second card, which you will thereby draw away in place of the top card. If neatly done, the keenest eyesight cannot detect the substitution of the second card. Your only difficulty will be to find a colourable pretext for placing the card you hold on the top of the pack. This achieved, the rest is easy. The nature of the trick you are performing will frequently suggest a plausible excuse. A very successful plan is to boldly request the company to observe that you do not do that which you at the same moment actually do. “You will observe, ladies and gentlemen,” you remark, “that I do not, even for one moment, replace the card in the pack, but simply,” etc., etc. At the words “replace the card in the pack,” the hands are brought together, and make the change. The action, suiting the words, is taken by the audience as an indicative gesture only, and thus the change is effected under their very eyes without exciting the least suspicion. In this mode of making the change, you should aim at being easy and natural, rather than very rapid. The main movement (that which brings the hands together) is undisguised, but attributed to a fictitious motive; and the subsidiary movement of the fingers, which actually effects the change, is so slight as to be practically imperceptible.
Fourth Method. (With one hand only.)—Take the pack, face downwards, in the left hand, as if about to deal. Place the card to be changed on the top, and the card for which it is to be changed next below it. With the left thumb push forward the top card to the extent of half its width, letting it rest on the tips of the fingers. This will leave one-half of the second card exposed. By a reverse movement of the thumb, draw back this second card till its outer edge is just clear of the inner edge of the top card. Now press the second card downwards with the thumb so as to bring its opposite edge just above the level of the top card; then push it back into its place, but this time above instead of below the top card.
Fig. 19.
Fig. 20.