A Card having been Secretly Thought of by one of the Audience, to place two Indifferent Cards upon the table, and to Change such one of them as the Audience may select into the Card thought of.—Arrange your pack beforehand in such manner that among the fifteen or sixteen undermost cards there may be only one court card, and note at what number from the bottom this card is. Advance to the company, offering the cards face downwards in the ordinary way, and requesting some person to draw a card. Then, as if upon a second thought, say, before he has time to draw, “Or, if you prefer it, you need not even touch the cards, but merely think of one as I spread them before you.” So saying, spread the cards one by one, with their faces to the company, beginning at the bottom. The single court card being conspicuous among so many plain cards, and there being nothing apparently to create a suspicion of design about the arrangement it is ten to one that the person will note that particular card, which we will suppose to be the knave of hearts. When you have run over twelve or fourteen cards in this way, ask, still moving on the cards, “Have you thought of a card?” On receiving an answer in the affirmative, you make the pass two cards below the court card (which you know by the number at which it stands), and forthwith make a false shuffle, leaving the last three cards undisturbed, so that the court card remains third from the bottom. Turning to the audience, you remark, “I will now take the two bottom cards, whatever they may happen to be, and lay them on the table.” Then, holding up the pack in the left hand, with the bottom card towards the audience, you inquire, “That is not your card, sir, I suppose? nor that?” each time lowering the cards in order to draw away with the moistened finger of the right hand, and place face downwards on the table, the card just shown. The second time, however, you do not really draw the card you have shown, but draw back that card and take the one next to it—viz., the knave of hearts. You then, standing behind your table and facing the audience, again repeat the question, “You are quite sure, sir, that neither of these two cards is the card you thought of? Which of them would you like me to transform into your card, the right or the left?” Whichever the answer is, it may be taken in two ways, and you interpret it as may best suit your purpose. Thus, if you have placed the knave of hearts on your own right, and the choice falls on the right-hand card, you interpret it to mean the one on your own right hand. If, on the contrary, the person chooses the card on the left, you interpret him to mean the card on his left, and therefore on your right; so that in either case you make the choice fall on the knave of hearts.G Taking up the other card, and holding it, without apparent design, so that the audience can see what it is, you return it to the pack. Then say boldly, “This card upon the table will forthwith change to the card you thought of. Will you be good enough to name it?” If he names the knave of hearts, you have nothing to do but to turn up, or request some other person to turn up, the card on the table, and show that it is the right one.
G The reader should specially note this expedient, as it is of constant use in conjuring.
It is, however, quite possible that the person, by accident or design, may have thought, not of the knave of hearts, but of some other card, say the nine of diamonds. Even in this case you need not be at a loss, although the card on the table is a wrong one. When the card is named, you say, “The nine of diamonds. Quite right! Let me show you, in the first place, that it is not here in the pack.” Advancing to the audience, and at the same time running over the cards, as in the last trick, you draw the nine of diamonds behind the other cards, and show that, apparently, it is not among them. On turning the pack over it will be at the top. Taking the pack in the left hand, and, returning to your table, pick up (with the right hand) the knave of hearts, and without looking at it yourself, say, “Here it is, you see, the nine of diamonds.” Then, with a careless gesture, and making a half turn to the right or left to cover the movement, “change” the card by the third method (see page 30), taking care not to show the card after the change. The audience will naturally exclaim that the card you have just shown them is not the nine of diamonds. You affect great surprise, and ask, “Indeed, what card was it then?” They reply, “The knave of hearts.” “The knave of hearts; surely not!” you exclaim, again showing the card in your hand, which is now found to be the nine of diamonds. “Indeed,” you continue, “you could not possibly have seen the knave of hearts, for that gentleman in the front row has had it in his pocket all the evening.” The knave of hearts was, in truth, left after the change on the top of the pack. As you advance to the audience, you palm it, and are thereby enabled to find it without difficulty in the pocket of a spectator, or in any other place which you may choose to designate.
It will be observed that the mode here indicated of changing a wrong card into a right one differs from that described in the last trick. Either method will be equally available, but it will be well to practise both, as it is a great desideratum to be able to vary the dénouement of a trick.
The course of action above directed in the event of an unexpected card being thought of, may be made available as a means of escape from a break-down in many other cases. Thus, for instance, if you are using a biseauté pack, and a chosen card has been replaced without the pack having been previously reversed, or if you have from any other cause accidentally lost the means of discovering a card drawn, you may still bring the trick to an effective termination as follows:—Give the pack to some one to shuffle, and then, drawing a card haphazard, and placing it face downwards on the table, announce boldly that the card drawn is now upon the table. Ask the person to name his card, show apparently that it is not in the pack, and finish the trick in one or other of the modes above described.
A Card having been Drawn and Returned, and the Pack shuffled, to divide the Pack into several heaps on the Table, and to cause the Drawn Card to appear in such heap as the Company may Choose.—Invite a person to draw a card. When it is returned, make the pass to bring it to the top. Make a false shuffle, and leave it still at the top. If any of the audience requests to be allowed to shuffle, palm the card, and hand him the pack. When it is returned, again place the card on the top.
Taking the cards in the right hand, face downwards, drop them, in packets of four or five cards each, on the table, noting particularly where you place the last packet (on the top of which is the chosen card). Ask the audience in which of the heaps they would like the chosen card to appear, and when they have made their choice, pick up all the other packets and place them in the left hand, placing the packet on which is the chosen card at the top. Divide the chosen packet into two, and bid the audience again choose between these, placing the cards of the non-chosen packet below the pack in the left hand. If the packet still remaining will admit of it, divide it into two again, but endeavour so to arrange matters that the packet ultimately chosen shall consist of two cards only, concealing however from the audience the precise number of cards in the packet. When you have reached this stage of the trick, palm the drawn card, which we will suppose to have been the ace of diamonds, and picking up with the same hand the chosen packet, secretly place that card on the top. Place the three cards face downwards side by side, the ace of diamonds in the middle, and ask the audience which of the three they desire to become the card originally drawn. If they choose the middle card, the trick is already done, and after asking the person to name his card, and showing that neither of the two outside ones is the card in question, you turn up the ace of diamonds.
If the choice falls on either of the outside cards, gather together all three, without showing them (the ace still being in the middle) and ask some one to blow on them. Then deal them out again in apparently the same order as before, but really deal the second for the first, so as to bring that card into the place of the card indicated. Then, after