Royal Road to Card Magic The

moment, pick up all the cards. Remove
all
the reversed cards at the bottom, right them and replace them. It will seem that in gathering the pack you absently made an error and corrected it.
    Mountebank Miracle
    Someone thinks of a card without touching it. When you deal the cards a moment later the card appears reversed in the pack.
    1. Have the pack shuffled and placed on the table, saying, 'In a moment I shall ask you to think of a card under conditions that will convince you that chance alone dictates the card of which you will think. When I turn my back, cut off any small number of cards, about ten or twelve or so. You will not know how many cards you have cut and neither will I. Count the cards, remember how many there are and put them in your pocket.'
    2. This done, turn back and take the rest of the pack. 'You have a number arrived at by chance. As I deal the cards, kindly remember the card which falls on your number.' Deal fifteen cards, counting each one aloud, lifting each so that its face can be seen, and dropping the cards face downwards in a neat pile. This action reverses their order.
    3. Pick up the dealt packet and replace it at the top of the deck, then remember that he still has some cards in his pocket. Turn away and have him replace these on top of the pack.
    4. Deal cards face downwards rather swiftly, dropping them about 30 cm (12 in) in front of you. Silently count the cards and when you deal the sixteenth card, which will be the spectator's card, flip it face upwards, lengthways, and continue the deal for two or three cards without the slightest pause. The effect is that the card was reversed in the pack and that you simply dealt it, because the spectators watch the cards as they fall on the table and not your hands. The effect of showing the mentally selected card reversed in the pack makes this a fine quick trick.

CHAPTER 15

The Hindu Shuffle and Other Controls

    The shuffle that goes by this interesting name is an excellent sleight and serves a number of purposes. It may be used as a genuine shuffle, as a method of controlling a card or a number of cards, as a force, or as a glimpse. It is not difficult and it is genuinely deceptive.
    1. Hold the pack in your left hand between the top phalanxes of the thumb and the middle, ring and little fingers. Place the index finger at the outer end. Hold the pack a little towards your left side, at about waist level, the outer end sloping downwards.
    2. Grasp the inner end of the pack by its sides between the outermost phalanxes of the right thumb and middle finger, with the index finger resting lightly on the top and the ring and little fingers free.
    3. Move the left hand outwards, taking with it a few of the top cards gripped between the thumb and fingers (figure 108). When these cards are clear of the pack let them drop on to the palm.

    4. Move the left hand back to its original position, grasp another small group of cards from the top of the pack in the same way as before - that is, between the thumb and fingers - then move the left hand outwards and let this packet fall on the first cards drawn off.
    5. Continue these movements until you have drawn off all the cards. Do not move the right hand during the shuffle; the left hand does all the work. After a little practice you will be able to draw off a few cards at a time. The slanting position of the pack slides the cards against the left index finger, which acts as a stop and neatly squares them.
    To repeat the shuffle at once, grasp the lower half of the pack at the inner ends by the sides, between the right thumb and second finger, and draw the upper half outwards with the left thumb and fingers. Let the upper half fall into the position described in step 3 above. Now continue the shuffle exactly as described before until you have used all the cards held by the right hand.
    Hindu Shuffle Control
    Single card
1. Have a card drawn by a spectator. When he has shown it to everyone, begin the Hindu shuffle as described above.
    2. After you have drawn off several small packets from the top into the left hand, extend the hand and have him place his card on top of these cards.
    3. Move the left hand back to the right hand to continue the shuffle, placing its cards directly under those held by the right hand so that the outer ends of both packets butt against the left forefinger. Press firmly against the side of the top cards of the lower packet with the tip of the right thumb, which extends below