(_La Colonne au Gant._)
Mr. Panky introduces to the company his Magic Sportsman, of which there
is an extended description in _The Secret Out_, “The Marvellous Musket
Shot.” The automaton salutes the audience, and makes ready to fire his
gun.
Several rings are borrowed and placed in the gun, with a lady’s glove.
[Illustration: Fig. 36.]
For a target there is brought in a stand with an ornamental pillar, on
the summit of which is a golden ball. At the signal, the miniature
marksman fires, the globular casket splits open, and the glove appears
on the top of the pillar, as if containing a hidden hand, and with the
rings on the fingers.
_Explanation._—When the rings and glove are borrowed, others are
instantly substituted for them, which are put into the gun. The real
ones are taken out of the room and arranged, the rings on the glove
inside the ball on the pillar. This pillar is hollow, and is in
connection with a gutta percha tube leading down within the table into
the confederate’s room. At the proper signal, the piston-rods work, and
the sportsman discharges the gun, and a strong current of air forces the
ball to open and inflates the glove. For the table, see _The Secret
Out_.
[Illustration]