Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

To be able, however, to force six cards in succession with ease and certainty, demands a more than average degree of dexterity on the part of the performer; and a “forcing pack” (see page 23) is hardly available where more than three, or at most four cards have to be forced. Various expedients have been adopted to get over this difficulty. Some professors simply collect, or allow their assistant to collect, the cards which have been drawn, and forthwith secretly exchange them for the same number of others. These latter are laid upon the table, and subsequently placed in the pistol, while the originals are carried off by the assistant behind the scenes, and there attached to the star, which is then for the first time brought forward. Others, again, use what are called “longs and shorts”--i.e., two packs of cards, one of which has had a small portion shaved off its length or breadth. The performer offers the uncut pack for the company to draw from, letting each person retain his card, and then secretly exchanging the pack for the shortened pack, he requests each of the drawers (singly) to replace his card, and to shuffle freely. The substituted pack being a shade smaller than the returned card, the latter becomes a “long” card (see page 60); and therefore, however well the cards are shuffled, the performer is able, with absolute certainty, to cut at that particular card. “Here is your card,” he remarks, “the knave of diamonds.” As he names the card, the assistant, behind the scenes, takes the cue, and attaches a corresponding card to the star. The card named is removed from the pack and laid upon the table, in order to be subsequently placed in the pistol, and a second drawn card is returned and shuffled with the like result.