Modern Magic. Professor Hoffmann. Читать онлайн. Newlib. NEWLIB.NET

Автор: Professor Hoffmann
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may, by way of variety, instead of offering the cards to be shuffled, hold them in the right hand, and make the single-handed “ruffle” above described, at the same time turning their faces slightly towards yourself. You may effect the same object, even more simply, by the mere act of passing the pack from the one hand to the other, keeping the bottom card turned inwards as above.

      Fig. 23.

      Fig. 24. Fig. 25.

      Fig. 26.

      To “Turn Over” the Pack.—There are certain tricks (as, for instance, where you have undertaken to produce a given card at a particular number in the pack) for which it is necessary to deal a certain number of cards from the top, and then (without the spectator’s knowledge) to continue the deal from the opposite end of the pack. As a necessary preliminary, you must “face” the cards—i.e., bring the upper and lower portions face to face. This you have already been taught to do by means of the pass. Whichever way the pack is turned, it will now, of course, show backs only. Take the pack flat in the left hand, the fingers clipping it rather tightly, but without the aid of the thumb. Pass the thumb underneath, and with the ball of the thumb press the pack smartly upwards (see Fig. 26), when it will describe a semi-revolution on its longer axis, the lower face of the pack being thereby brought uppermost. If performed with the hand at rest, the movement is very perceptible; but if you at the same time make a semi-circular sweep of the hand and arm from left to right, the smaller movement of the pack in the hand is much less likely to attract notice.

      To Spring the Cards from one Hand to the Other.—This is a mere flourish, and belongs rather to the art of the juggler than to that of the magician; but it is so frequently exhibited by conjurors that a work on magic would hardly be complete without some notice of it. The cards are held in the right hand, between the tips of the second and third finger at the top, and the thumb at the bottom. If the thumb and fingers are now brought slowly nearer together, so as to bend the cards slightly, they will one by one, in quick succession (beginning with the bottom card) spring away from the pack; and if the pressure be continued, the whole of the cards will spring away one after the other in this manner. If the left hand be held at ten or twelve inches distance from the right, with the fingers slightly bent, the released cards will be shot into the left hand, which, as the last cards reach it, should be rapidly brought palm to palm with the right, and square up the pack to repeat the process. By giving the body a quick half turn to the right as the cards are sprung from one hand to the other, you may make the hands (and with them the moving cards) describe an arc of about two feet, and so deceive the eye of the spectator into the belief that the hands are that distance apart, though in reality, as they both move together in the same direction, they retain throughout their original relative distance of ten or twelve inches.

      To Throw a Card.—This sleight also belongs rather to the ornamental than to the practical part of conjuring, but it is by no means to be despised. It is a decided addition to a card trick for the performer to be able to say, “You observe, ladies and gentlemen, that the cards I use are all of a perfectly ordinary character,” and by way of offering them for examination, to send half-a-dozen in succession flying into the remotest corners of the hall or theatre.

      Fig. 27.

      A skilled performer will propel cards in this way to a distance of sixty or eighty feet, each card travelling with the precision, and well-nigh the speed, of an arrow shot from a bow. The movement, though perfectly simple in theory, is by no means easy to acquire in practice. Indeed, we know no sleight which, as a rule, gives more trouble at the outset; but, after a certain amount of labour with little or no result, the student suddenly acquires the desired knack, and thenceforward finds no difficulty in the matter.

      The Bridge.—The object of the bridge is to enable the performer, with ease and certainty, to cut or otherwise divide the pack at a given card. It is made as follows: Holding the cards in the left hand, with the thumb across the pack, the performer covers them for an instant with his right hand, as if about to make the pass. Grasping the pack between the thumb and second finger of this hand, he bends the whole of the cards slightly inwards over the first finger of the left hand, immediately afterwards bending the upper or outward portion of the pack backwards in the opposite direction. The effect of the double movement is that the two halves of the pack are bent in a double concave form, thus )(, though in a much less degree. If the cards be now cut, the concave portions, instead of being, as at first, back to back, will be face to face, thus (), leaving in the centre of the pack an elliptical opening, of a maximum width of about an eighth of an inch. This slight hiatus in the middle will generally cause a person who is invited to cut to do so at that particular point, and will in any case enable the performer either to cut or to make the pass at that point with the greatest ease. The cases in which the bridge may be employed with advantage will be more particularly indicated when we come to practically apply the processes already described, but it has a special use which may be at once mentioned. It will be remembered that some of the false shuffles already described leave the cards as if cut, though they in other respects retain their pre-arranged order; and it therefore becomes necessary to again cut them at a particular point, in order to bring them back to their original condition. This point is ascertained by the use of the bridge. The cards are first bent in the manner above described; the false shuffle is then made, leaving the cards in effect cut; but by again cutting or making the pass at the bridge, they are once more precisely as at first.

      We have endeavoured to be as explicit