The Gaming Table: Its Votaries and Victims Volume 2 Part 28

13. The card that cannot be found.

Take any number of cards and spread them out fan-like in your hand, faces fronting the spectators.

Ask one of them to select a card. You tell him to take it, and then to place it at the bottom of the pack. You hold up the pack, so that the spectators may see that the card is really at the bottom. Suppose this card is the king of hearts.

Then, pretending to take that card, you take the card preceding it, and place it at a point corresponding to A in the following figure.

A C B D

You then take the card drawn, namely, the king of hearts, and place it at the point corresponding to B in the above figure. Finally, you take any two other cards, and place them at C and D.

Of course, the cards are placed face downwards.

After this location of the cards, you tell the party who has chosen the card that you will change the position of the cards, by pus.h.i.+ng alternately that at the point A to B, and that at D to C, and vice versa; and you defy him to follow you in these gyrations of the card, and to find it.

Of course, seeing no difficulty in the thing, and believing with everybody that his card is placed at the point A, he will undertake to follow and find his card. Then performing what you undertake to do, you rapidly change the places of the cards, and yet slowly enough to enable the party to keep in view the card which he thinks his own, and so that you may not lose sight of the one you placed at B.

Having thus arranged the cards for a few moments, you ask the party to perform his promise by pointing out his card. Feeling sure that he never lost sight of it, he instantly turns one of the cards and is astonished to find that it is not his own. Then you say:--'I told you you would not be able to follow your card in its ramble. But I have done what you couldn't do: here is your card!'

The astonishment of the spectators is increased when you actually show the card; for, having made them observe in the first instance, that you did not even look at the drawn card, they are utterly at a loss to discover the means you employed to find out and produce the card in question.

14. Cards being drawn from a pack, to get them guessed by a person blindfolded.

At all these performances there are always amongst the spectators persons in league with the prestidigitator. In the present case a woman is the a.s.sistant, with whom he has entered into an arrangement by which each card is represented by a letter of the alphabet; and the following are the cards selected for the trick with their representative letters.

The performer takes a handkerchief and blindfolds the lady in question, and places her in the centre of the circle of spectators. Then spreading out the cards, he requests each of the spectators to draw a card.

He requests the first to give him the card he has drawn; he looks at it, and placing it on the table face downwards, he asks the lady to name the card, which she does instantly and without hesitation.

Of course this appears wonderful to the spectators, and their astonishment goes on increasing whilst the lady names every card in succession to the last.

It is, however, a very simple affair. Each card represents a letter of the alphabet, as we see by the figure, and all the performer has to do is to begin every question with the letter corresponding to the card.

Suppose the party has drawn the king of hearts. Its letter is A.

The performer exclaims--'Ah! I'm sure you know this!' The A at once suggests the card in question. Suppose it is the ace of clubs. He says--'Jump at conclusions if you like, but be sure in hitting this card on the nail.' J begins the phrase, and represents the card in question.

Suppose it is the ten of spades, he cries out--'Zounds! if you mistake this you are not so clever a medium as I took you for.' The ace of diamonds--'Quite easy, my dear sir,' or 'my dear ma'am,' as the case may be. Q represents the ace of diamonds. The queen of diamonds--'Oh, the beauty!' The ace of hearts--'Dear me! what is this?' The ace of spades--'You are always right, name it.' The nine of diamonds--'So! so!

well, I'm sure she knows it.'

Doubtless these specimens will suffice to suggest phrases for every other card. Such phrases may be written out and got by heart--only twenty-three being required; but this seems useless, for it does not require much tact at improvisation to hit upon a phrase commencing with any letter. However, it will be better to take every precaution rather than run the risk of stopping in the performance, whose success mainly depends upon the apparently inspired rapidity of the answers. The performer might conceal in the hollow of his hand a small table exactly like the figure, to facilitate his questions. As for the medium, he, or she, must rely entirely on memory. Of course the spectators may be allowed to see that the medium is completely blindfolded. This modern trick has always puzzled the keenest spectators

15. The mystery of double sight.

All the cards of a pack, or indeed any common object touched by a spectator, may be named by an a.s.sistant in the following way--whilst in another apartment, or blindfolded.

Take 32 cards and arrange them in four lines, one under the other. You arrange with your a.s.sistant to name the first line after the days of the week; the second will represent the weeks, the third the months, the fourth the years. The a.s.sistant is enjoined to count the days aloud, and the first card by the left.

The following is the entire scheme:--

Days 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8* Weeks 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Months 1 2 3** 4 5 6 7 8 Years 1 2 3 4 5 6 7*** 8

The cards being thus arranged, the party who has to guess them retires from the room. When he is recalled, whether blindfolded or not, he pretends to count to himself for a considerable time, so as to allow his a.s.sociate time to say to him, without affectation or exciting suspicion of collusion--'I give you,' or 'I give him SO MUCH TIME to guess what is required; 'for it is in this phrase that the whole secret of the trick is contained, as I shall proceed to demonstrate.

Suppose the card touched be one of those marked with the asterisks * **

***; if it be the first, the a.s.sociate says,; I give him eight days to guess it.' Then the medium, beginning with the upper line, that of the days, will at once be able to say that the card touched is the eighth of the first horizontal line, or the first of the eighth vertical line.

If it be the card holding the place of the number marked with two asterisks ** the a.s.sociate says 'three months,' and 'seven years' for the one marked with three asterisks ***.

Thus, whatever card is touched, it will be easy to indicate it, by beginning with the line of days at the top, counting one from the left of the a.s.sociate and medium.

Such is the simple process; and the following is the conventional catechism adopted by all theoperators in double sight, with a few variations adapted to circ.u.mstances.

With this collection of words and phrases, every existing object can be guessed, provided care be taken to cla.s.sify them according to the following indications.

To operate, two persons must establish a perfect understanding between them. One undertakes the questions, the other the answers, the latter having his eyes perfectly blindfolded. Both of them must thoroughly know the following numbers with their correspondences:--

1. Now. 9. Quick. 2. Answer or reply. 10. Say. 3. Name. 20. Tell me. 4.

What is the object, or thing. 30. I request you. 5. Try. 40. Will you.

6. Again. 50. Will you (to) me. 7. Instantly. 60. Will you (to) us. 8.

Which?

Example:--Add the question of the simple number to the question of the decade or ten. Thus, in p.r.o.nouncing the words 'Say now,' 11--for say is 10, and now is 1, total 11. This, therefore, forms question 11.

Again--'Tell me which number,' 28--for 'tell me' is 20, and 'which' is 8, total 28.

Thirdly:--'I request you instantly,' 37; for 'I request you' is 30, and 'instantly' is 7, total 37.

All the expressions or words that follow are totally independent of the answer, and are only adapted to embellish or mystify the question as far as the audience is concerned. For instance:

Question 7. Instantly, what I have in my hand? Answer, A watch.

Question 9. Quick, the hour? Answer, nine o'clock.

Question 30, I request you (2) reply--the minutes. Answer, 32 minutes, that is 30 and 2, equal to 32.

It would be useless to give the entire correspondence invented for this apparently mysterious revelation, as a few specimens will suffice to show the principle.

Say what I hold? A handkerchief.

Say now what I hold? A snuff-box.

Say, reply, what I hold? A pair of spectacles.

Say and name what I hold? A box.

Say and try to say what I hold? A hat.

Say quickly what I hold? An umbrella.

Tell me, reply, what I hold? A knife.

Tell me what I hold? A purse.

Tell me now what I hold? A pipe.