TO BRING A CHOSEN CARD FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE PACK AT ANY NUMBER REQUESTED
Ask a member of the company to take a card, look at it, and return it to the pack. Make the "pass" (_Hercat's Card Tricks_, p. 7); "palm" the card (_Card Tricks_, p. 18) and hand the pack to be shuffled. While this is being done transfer the palmed card to your left hand, and on receiving the pack back, place it over the concealed card, and tell the company you will produce the latter from the bottom of the pack at any number they may name. Supposing some one says, "Let it be the fifteenth card." You push the pack forward in your left hand, allowing the bottom card to project about an inch toward you, and proceed to draw out the cards above it with your right hand, one at a time, until the fourteenth is reached, when you push the bottom card forward and produce it as the fifteenth.
A CHOSEN CARD SHAKEN THROUGH A HANDKERCHIEF
Request a member of the company to select a card and return it to the pack, which you proceed to wrap up in a large pocket handkerchief, and on the person calling the card by name you shake the handkerchief and the selected card falls on the table.
EXPLANATION.--If you are not an adept at sleight-of-hand it is advisable to use a "forcing pack" which is composed of only three or four cards, of a kind (i.e. ten kings of hearts, ten five of spades, ten eight of diamonds, etc.) with backs to match your ordinary pack. If you can make the "pass" and can "palm" (_Hercat's Card Tricks_, pp. 7 and 18) the following is the correct _modus operandi_. On the card being returned to the pack, carry it to the top by the pass, palm it, and hand the pack back to be shuffled. Place the palmed card face upward on the left hand and cover it with a large white handkerchief, and cause the pack to be placed face down on the handkerchief exactly over the concealed card. With your right hand throw the back hem of the handkerchief over the pack and with that hand grasp the four sides underneath. Then reverse the position of your hands, moving the right hand toward the right on top and taking the left hand away, which will leave the selected card concealed in the fold of the handkerchief (Fig. 1). Ask the person who took the card to name it and request it to leave the pack and pass through the handkerchief. When he does so shake the handkerchief gently and the card will slowly come into view. If you use a "forcing pack" retain a duplicate of the card you intend to force; conceal it in your left hand and proceed as above described.