It is not an uncommon thing to see a performer commit the gaucherie of handing all the rings, save only the key ring, to be examined in the first instance; the key ring being hidden under the breast or under the tail of the coat, and being added to the set in returning to the table. The spectators are thus needlessly made acquainted with the fact that certain of the rings are already linked together, and this once admitted, the trick loses nine-tenths of its effect.
Fig. 242.
Fig. 243.
The set of twelve rings is less frequently seen, and is rather more complicated to manage, though in good hands it is capable of much more brilliant effects than the smaller number. The set consists of five single rings, a group of two, a group of three, and two key rings. These are held in the hands of the performer in the following order. First (i.e., innermost) a key ring, then the group of three, then the second key ring, then the group of two, and lastly the five single rings. The latter are distributed for examination. While they are still in the possession of the audience, the performer requests one of the spectators to link two of them together, and himself taking in his right hand the group of two, pretends to link the latter, as already described, and hands them for examination. The performer meanwhile takes in his right hand one of the key rings, and collects the single rings in his left. As soon as the group of two are handed back, he links one of them to the key ring in his right hand, thus forming a chain of three, with the key ring uppermost. Next linking the lowest ring into the key ring, he forms [Fig. 238], which, by holding the two lower rings apart, assumes the shape of a triangle. Again disengaging the lower ring, passing one of the single rings from the left hand to the right, and laying down on the table all the rings remaining in that hand (the group of three uppermost) he joins the single ring to the key ring, thus making a chain of four, of which the key ring is second from the top. These he lays, still linked, upon the table, and takes up from the heap already lying there the three uppermost (which, it will be remembered, are the group of three), and holding them for a moment together in the hand, lets them fall one by one to form a second chain of three. Taking the next ring of the heap (the second key ring) in his disengaged hand, he steps forward, and requests some one to take hold of either of the three rings, and to pull against him, in order to prove their solidity. This ascertained, he passes the upper ring of the three into the hand which already holds the key ring, and links it into the key ring, thus forming a second chain of four, of which in this case the key is the uppermost. Linking the lowermost into the key ring, he shows the rings as in [Fig. 240]. Once more unlinking the lower ring, so that the four again appear as a single chain, he proceeds (apparently) to link all the twelve together. This is effected as follows:—
Taking two of the single rings, the performer links them into the key ring of the chain which he holds. He next links one of these same single rings into the key ring of the other chain, thus linking the two chains together at a distance of one ring from the end of the chain. He thus has ten rings joined. He now takes the two chains one in each hand by the ends remotest from the point of juncture, immediately after picking up and holding (one in each hand) the two remaining single rings. These, of course, he does not and cannot link with the rings adjoining them, but the audience seeing that all the rest are linked together, readily believe that these also form part of the chain. The precise arrangement of the rings will be readily understood from an inspection of [Fig. 244].[M]
[M] The numbers 1, 2, 3, in the centre of the various rings in [Figs. 240–244], indicate whether the ring in question is a “single” or forms part of the group of two or of three, as the case may be.
Fig. 244.