| The | sixty- | fourth | regiment | beats the | seventy- | fifth; |
| 6 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 5 |
| up starts the | king | with | eight | thousand | and |
| king | 8 | 10 |
| three | men | and | ninety- | two | women. |
| 3 | knave | 9 | 2 | queen. |
In the above sentence it will be seen that certain words which suggest numbers or particular cards are made to be reminders of those cards. As this trick only undertakes to designate the value and not the suit of the cards, it is not necessary in picking up the cards that the whole of one suit should be lifted before commencing another, and the numbers only need be according to the series adopted. The cards, being duly arranged, should be handed round to be cut, with the understanding that they may be cut whist-fashion only, and not shuffled: that is, a portion of the cards may be removed from the top to the bottom of the pack again and again by as many of the audience as may desire to make the cut. By means of a judicious sleight, all that is necessary for the performer to do is to sight the bottom card, or if he is clever at palming, the top card will give the necessary key to the whole. The cards may then be dealt out in the ordinary way from the top card, each card as it is dealt being named and then turned over. For example: if the cutting has resulted in leaving a knave at the bottom of the pack, that will give a three at the top, and taking the key from either of these two cards, the order will be as follows: 3, 10, 8, king, 5, 7, 1, 4, 6, queen, 2, 9, knave, and so on throughout. When the sequence is thoroughly mastered a corresponding sequence of suits may be arranged, so that the full designation of the card may be given.
THE NERVE TRICK.
This is another of the same class of tricks that enables the performer to name a card selected by some other person. Any one may select a card. After it has been examined and returned to the pack, make the pass, and bring the card to the bottom. Then cut the cards in two packs of about equal size, and to the person who selected the card give that half of the pack which contains the card selected at the bottom, requesting him to hold it tightly at the corner between his forefinger and thumb. Impress upon him the necessity of holding the cards tightly, as the success of the trick depends entirely upon him, and all the performer offers to do is to knock all the cards on the floor except the one that was chosen. When the cards are properly held, the performer has to strike them sharply, upon which all except the bottom card should fall to the ground, and that, of course, is the selected card. The trick of striking the cards in the right place can only be learnt by practice.
TO MAKE SOME OTHER PERSON DRAW THE CARDS THE PERFORMER CALLS FOR.
We have given several tricks in which the performer finds out the card or cards selected by the audience, but in this trick we explain how the performer makes one of the audience select the cards he calls for. After shuffling the cards, let the performer spread them out with their faces downwards, without entirely separating them; before, however, letting them leave his hand, sight and note the designation of the bottom or some other card—say, for example, the ace of spades. Then call up any one of the audience, or request that some one of those present will kindly step forward and assist in the development of the trick; say that neither he nor you have seen the faces of the cards on the table, but, nevertheless, you will get him to select from the pack just those cards called for, and ask him to be good enough to hand you up some cards one by one, without looking at their faces, as you call for them. The card the position and designation of which you know should be first asked for, when probably—indeed, almost certainly—some other card will be handed in. Suppose the card handed in is the two of diamonds, then call for the two of diamonds, and receive, say, the queen of clubs; for the third card call for the queen of clubs, and perhaps the jack of diamonds will be picked out. Say now that you will select a fourth card, which shall be the jack of diamonds, and leisurely examine the cards on the table, finally taking up the ace of spades, the position of which you have borne in mind. The four cards in the performer's hand will then be the four cards that have been named. If, however, the known card should be picked up, expose at once what you have, and bring the trick to a conclusion.
TO CALL FOR ANY CARD.
Having seen a card, make the pass, and bring the seen card to the bottom of the pack; place the cards behind the back, and call for the card that is known, at the same time turning the top card face outwards. Bring the cards forward, showing the bottom card only to the audience, and again place the cards behind; call for the top card, bringing it now to the bottom, and turning over the card which will be left at the top; and so on proceed until the audience is satisfied that you are able to discern the cards by the touch.