Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

This trick is sometimes performed with three cards instead of one. The working of the trick is the same, save that you use a forcing pack consisting of three cards repeated, and that in preparing the sword the two first cards which are threaded on the elastic are perforated with holes of such a size, as to allow them, when released, to slide partially down the blade, the first nearly to the hilt, and the second about half way. THE RISING CARDS (La Houlette).--SEVERAL CARDS HAVING BEEN DRAWN, RETURNED, AND SHUFFLED, TO MAKE THEM RISE SPONTANEOUSLY FROM THE PACK.--This is one of the best of card tricks. The performer advances, pack in hand, to the company. He invites three persons each to draw a card. The cards having been drawn, they are replaced in different parts of the pack, which is thoroughly shuffled. The performer then places the pack in a tin box or case, just large enough to hold it in an upright position. This case is generally in the form of a lyre, open in front and at the top, and supported on a shaft or pillar, twelve or fifteen inches high (see Fig. 44). He then asks each person in succession to call for his card, which is forthwith seen to rise slowly from the pack, without any visible assistance, the performer standing quite apart.