You have the double die described in _The Secret Out_, composed of a
hollow tin case, painted like a die, and a die in solid wood.
You hold up a borrowed hat and say that you will visibly pass that die
(both being as one) into the hat. Upon the crown you leave the cover and
the solid cube you put inside the hat—or you say—“Now you see this die,
and now you do not see it!” and pass it down on the secret shelf behind
your table. Or, again, you exchange it for a hollow die holding a live
bird, and opening with a sliding side.
[Illustration: Fig. 15.]
You place this die on a plate, and, in covering it, and turning it over,
open the slide, so as to have the now open face down on the plate.
You have a small cage containing another bird, on which you set a
handkerchief, in the centre of which is sewn a square plate of metal of
the size of a cage, at top. Your table trap takes in the cage, and you
hold the handkerchief by the square plate at the proper distance from
the table, so that the way the folds fall from its edge will resemble
their draping the cage.
Now, say—“I shall make that die pass into the hat and this bird take its
place!”
You shake the handkerchief and show that the cage has departed—a most
effective illusion.
You pick up the mock die in the case, and, of course, the liberated bird
flies away.
You lift the hat and push the solid die so as to make it fall.
Then you put into the hat a set of cups, Chinese lanterns, dolls, or
other objects made for that purpose, to fit inside each other, and so
take up little space—and express your astonishment that the owner should
fill his hat with anything but brains.