Throw the pack on the table and request some one to select a card. Then
gather up the rest of the cards and request your friend to show his card
to his neighbour, to avoid mistakes. While this is being done bend the
pack slightly while pretending to shuffle it, and cause the card to be
returned and the pack shuffled. The selected card can then be easily
detected among the bent cards by its being perfectly straight. A good
way to finish the trick is to bring the card to the top of the pack and
cause it to project about an inch over the right side; cover the front
end of the pack with your four fingers so that the edge of the
projecting card is concealed, and, with your thumb at the other end,
hold the pack firmly about eighteen inches above the table. Request the
person who drew the card to call it by name. On this being done, drop
the pack on the table, when the projecting card will be completely
turned over by the air in its descent and lie perfectly square on the
top of the pack. Another good finish is to bring the chosen card to the
bottom of the pack, and requesting the person who selected it to hold
the pack by pinching it tightly between his finger and thumb close to
the corner, you give the pack a sharp rap, when all the cards will fall
excepting the one chosen.
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.