Select ten cards, regardless of suit, the ace, and from deuce to ten,
arranging them as follows: Lay the ten face down on the palm of your
hand, the nine next, and the others in rotation, finishing with the ace,
which you call "one." Give the cards so arranged to a friend, and tell
him you will leave the room while he moves cards one at a time, not to
exceed nine, from top to bottom, and when you return you will tell him
how many he has shifted. You may repeat this feat successfully several
times, and finish by requesting him to make up his mind how many cards
he intends moving before you leave the room and you will tell him which
card will indicate the number he has selected. On returning you
immediately refer him to the card which gives the correct answer. This
is really a most puzzling trick and yet an easy one to perform. Commence
by showing how the cards are to be moved by shifting a few yourself,
noting how many you move, so you will remember which card you leave at
the bottom. When you return to the room you subtract the number of pips
on that card from ten and the product will show the number of the card
from the top, the pips on which indicate the number of cards your friend
has moved. We will suppose that, in illustrating, you move four cards,
which will, of course, leave the four at the bottom; you subtract four
from ten, which leaves six, and no matter how many cards have been moved
the pips on the sixth from the top will indicate the number. Taking the
pack in your hand face downward, count off the first six cards, and
glancing at the sixth say, "You moved ---- cards." When you repeat the
trick add the number originally at the bottom to the number your friend
has moved, which will give the number now at the bottom, which you again
subtract from ten. In predicting the number of cards your friend means
to move you tell him the number of the card from the top which will show
it. We will suppose the bottom card is eight and your friend mentally
decides upon moving five cards, you subtract eight from ten, which
leaves two, and tell him the number he is going to move will be
indicated by the pips on the second card from the top after he has moved
the cards.