Cast an ordinary knot on a handkerchief, and give the end out of your right hand to some spectator, and tell him to pull hard and sharp when you count three. Just as he pulls, slip your left thumb under the handkerchief, as drawn in the cut, and it will be pulled out quite straight without any knot at all. You must let go the end that hangs over the left hand, and grasp the handkerchief between the thumb and forefinger.
6. THE THREE CUPS.
This is an admirable delusion, but requires very careful management, and should be practised repeatedly before it is exhibited publicly. You get three tin cups, of the shape shown in the [cut]. They should have two or three ridges running round them at the mouth, in order to give a better hold. Four balls should now be made of cork, and carefully blackened. One of the balls is held concealed between the roots of the third and fourth fingers, while the other three are handed round for examination, together with the cups. When they are returned, the young conjuror begins by placing each ball under a cup, or, if he chooses, asks one of the spectators to do so for him. While this is being done, he slips the fourth ball to the tips of the second and third fingers. He then lifts up cup No. 1, replacing it on the table a few inches from its first position, and at the same time slips the fourth ball under it. He takes up ball No. 1, and pretends to throw it away, but in reality he slips it into the place which the fourth ball had occupied. He does the same with the three cups, and then commences a sham search after the lost balls, in which he accidentally (!) knocks over one of the cups, and, to his pretended astonishment, finds a ball under it. He then knocks over both the other cups, and finds in them the two missing balls.
He again places the balls under the cups, taking care to slip the fourth ball under cup No. 3. He then takes up cup No. 1 and pretends to throw the ball into No. 3, but hides it as before. As there are already two balls in No. 3, the spectators imagine that he really has thrown the ball into it. He replaces cup No. 3 over both balls, and slips among them ball No. 1. He then takes up cup No. 2, and goes through the same process, and on knocking over cup No. 3, all three balls are found together under it, and while the spectators are being astonished, ball No. 2 can be quickly got rid of.
A rather startling termination to this trick can be managed by taking up one of the cups with its mouth upwards, holding the finger and thumb close to its mouth. Then by throwing another cup into it, letting go the first and catching the second, you appear to have thrown the second cup through the first.
7. TO TIE A HANDKERCHIEF ROUND YOUR LEG, AND GET IT OFF WITHOUT UNTYING THE KNOT.
Hold the handkerchief by both ends, lay the centre of the handkerchief on your knee, and pass the two ends below, appearing to cross them, but in reality hitching them within each other, as represented in the [engraving], which shows the manner in which this is managed. Draw this loop tight, and bring back the ends to the same side on which they were originally, and tie them above. If the loop is properly made, it will stand a good pull. Then, after showing the spectators how firmly it is tied, put your hand under the knot, and by giving it a sharp pull, it will come off.