Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

[D] Another form of this trick, in which sleight-of-hand is not needed, has been given at page 52. Another Method.--The card having been drawn and replaced, bring it to the top by the pass, palm it, have the pack shuffled, and replace it on the top. Invite the audience to choose at what number it shall appear. They choose, we will suppose, fifth. “Very good,” you reply; “permit me, in the first place, to show you that it is not there already.” Deal out the first five cards, face downwards, and show that the fifth is not the chosen card. Replace the five cards, in their present order on the pack, when the card will be at the number named. SEVERAL PERSONS HAVING EACH DRAWN AND RETURNED A CARD, TO MAKE EACH CARD APPEAR AT SUCH NUMBER IN THE PACK AS THE DRAWER CHOOSES.--Allow three or four persons each to draw a card. When all have drawn, make the pass in such manner as to bring the two halves of the pack face to face. The pack should not, however, be equally divided. The upper portion should only consist of about half-a-dozen cards, and therefore in making the pass you should insert the finger only at that number of cards from the bottom. Receive back the drawn cards on the top of the pack, “ruffling” the cards (see page 27), and saying “Pass!” as each card is replaced. You may casually remark, “Your card has vanished; did you see it go?” When all are returned, you quickly “turn over” the pack (see page 37), and, taking off the top card, say, addressing yourself to the person who last returned a card, “You see your card has vanished, as I told you. At what number in the pack, say from the first to the tenth, would you like it to re-appear?” We will suppose the answer to be “the sixth.” You deal five cards from the end of the pack that is now uppermost, then pretending a momentary hesitation, say, “I fancy I dealt two cards for one; allow me to count them again.”