Fig. 5.
We have above recommended you to keep the hands together as much as possible; but there are circumstances under which an ostentatious separation of the hands is equally effective. Thus, holding the cards as above directed, you may make the pass by (apparently) merely cutting the cards, lifting, in truth, the under instead of the upper half, the latter making way (by a slight and momentary extension of the left hand) to allow it to pass. You may also, when holding the cards as just cut (i.e., half the pack in each hand), make the pass in the act of bringing them together. To do this you should hold the right hand packet in such manner that the thumb and second finger may project a full inch beyond the face of the cards. At the moment of bringing the two packets together (which should be done with a sidelong motion of the right hand from right to left) this thumb and finger grip the other packet, and slide it out towards the left shoulder, leaving what was originally the right hand packet in the left hand. If this is done neatly, the movement is so subtle that the keenest eye cannot detect that the two packets have changed hands. Having effected the change, you may take your own time as to placing the now uppermost packet on the other. The circumstances of each trick will indicate the cases in which it may be desirable to adopt either of these variations.
Fig. 6.
Third Method. (With both hands.)—This is very similar to the first method, but much less neat. Take the cards, as in the former case, face downwards in the left hand, but instead of the little finger, insert the second and third fingers immediately above those cards which are to be brought to the top of the pack, and draw the first and fourth fingers below the pack. (See [Fig. 5].) In this position, the lower half of the pack is held as in a forceps between the second and third and the first and fourth fingers. Now cover the pack with the right hand as directed for making the pass by the first method, but in this instance grasp therewith (between the first and second fingers at top and the thumb at bottom) the upper half of the pack. Raise this upper half slightly, to allow room for the movement of the lower half, and at the same moment slightly extend the fingers of the left hand. (See [Fig. 6].) This will make the lower packet describe a quarter of a circle. As soon as it is clear of the upper packet, by reversing the motion (i.e., closing the fingers of the left hand, and at the same time lowering the right hand), the two halves of the pack will be again brought together, but that half which was originally undermost will now be uppermost. The movement will be understood more clearly on an inspection of the diagrams a and b ([Fig. 6]), a representing an end view of the two portions of the pack in their original position, and b of the same in their transposed position, the original lower portion being in each case indicated by the darker shade.
Fourth Method. (With the left hand.)—This is almost the same as the method last described, save that the left hand only is used. The upper packet, instead of being held in the right hand, is in this case clipped between the ball of the left thumb and the point where the thumb joins the hand. In other respects the movement is the same.
Fig. 7.
Fifth Method. (With the left hand.)—Take the cards in the left hand as before. Insert the third finger above the cards which are to be brought to the top (and which now form the lower half of the pack), and close the remaining three fingers on the top of the pack. (See [Fig. 1], but suppose the third finger inserted in place of the fourth.) Now extend the fingers, which will make the upper part of the pack describe a semicircle (see [Fig. 7]), and at the same moment press downward with the thumb the left top corner of the lower packet. This will tilt up the opposite end of the lower packet, and give room, as you again close the fingers, for the upper packet to pass into the lower place. (See [Fig. 8].) To bring the original upper packet (i.e., the one with the six of hearts at the bottom) from the position indicated in [Fig. 7] to that which it occupies in [Fig. 8], it is pressed slightly forward with the middle finger, and is thereby made to perform a semi-revolution, the third finger acting as pivot. The packet is by this means turned over endways, i.e., that end of the packet which was originally nearest to the performer is now farthest from him, and vice versâ. The movement is by no means easy to describe, but if followed step by step with the cards, will be readily understood.