Fig. 107.—Beginning Shamrock Knot.
If the ends of the shamrock knot (Fig. 106) were spliced, a four-looped knot would be formed. Though used for the same purposes as the double pitcher knot, it is not so good as that, being more troublesome to make and not so strong, in consequence of the short nip of the strands in the centre of the knot. Fig. 107 shows the way of making it. An overhand knot is first formed with the ends at A; the end B is then laid across the upper loop, brought round and under the right loop and up through the bight C. The strand D, after passing at the back of the upper loop, is carried over the left loop and down through the bight E. The loops are now adjusted for size and the knot hauled taut. Fig. 108 gives another way of making this knot. Two overhand knots intersecting one another are made on the ends, as illustrated; the part A is drawn up through the bight C, and the part B down through the bight D. These form the side loops, and the top loop being pulled out the knot is completed. By an extension of these methods knots may be made with any number of loops, but the difficulty increases greatly as the loops increase, so much so, that many loops cannot be made except wire replaces the cord.
Fig. 108.—Another Way of Making Shamrock Knot.
The dalliance knot whose beginning is shown by Fig. 109 is a trick knot difficult to learn when it is merely seen rapidly made. The object is to make two independent double-knots at once on a double cord. Double the cord so that the ends lie together; bring the bight over the standing parts, as shown in Fig. 109, and cross the strand A over the strand B; they will now appear as in Fig. 110. Press the part C down between the two strands on which it lies, and bring it up through the opening D, draw it out, and two overhand knots will be formed on the double cord. While the part C is being drawn out through D, the whole of the loop E must be brought up through the bight F; this forms the upper knot. The lower knot is made by loop F, C forming bight at top of double cord. The finished knot is practically the same as Fig. 16 (p. 25).
Fig. 109.—Beginning Dalliance Knot.
Fig. 110.—Next Stage in Dalliance Knot.
Some stage performances many years ago consisted of various rope tricks. In the principal one the performers were shut up in a cabinet, and when the doors were thrown open they were found seated on two chairs tightly bound hand and foot. After examining the knots, the doors were closed and the men rang bells, played on the tambourine, and threw things out of a small window in the top of the cabinet. On the doors being opened again directly they were found firmly tied to their chairs as before. They were able to do this by means of an ingenious knot, shown in Fig. 111. To perform the trick, two medium ropes each about 12 ft. long are required. First the openhand knot A (see Fig. 8, p. 19) joining the two ropes is made, the ends being passed twice through the bight to increase the size of the knot. Two running knots are made close up to this knot as at B, B. The knotted end of the rope is laid on the seat of a chair with the ropes passing down the back of the seat and under the chair. The performer seats himself on the chair, and, drawing the loose ends of the ropes up in front from under it, he passes them round and round his legs and the legs of the chair in a complicated manner. He draws the knotted end from under him, and, putting his arms over the back of the chair, passes his left hand down through one loop and his right hand up through the other. He now turns his right hand down until the palms of both hands are together and the fingers pointing downwards This produces a twist in the ropes which takes up the slack and tightens the cord round the wrists. The large knot being between the hands effectually hides this, and the wrists merely appear to be as tightly bound together as they can be. The performer has merely to reverse this last proceeding—that is, to bring the right hand up again, and so undo the twist—and his hand can be withdrawn as readily as it was put into the loop. The trick requires some practice, and the size of the loops must be regulated by the size of the performer’s wrists. The knots should also be so placed on the chair at the commencement that the ropes are tight when the hands are in the loops.