A pack of fifty-two cards is taken, and after being well shuffled they
are turned up one by one, counting one, two, three, four, five, six,
seven, eight, nine, ten, jack, queen, king (here the ace counts as
one). If any card should fall on the number counted--thus, supposing a
five comes when five is counted, or a king when that card turns up, it
must be taken out and placed on the table, face uppermost, before the
dealer. After counting to a king the counting is re-commenced at one.
Should two cards follow, such as three and four, eight and nine, etc.,
these must be abstracted, also three of a kind, such as three tens,
three kings, etc., they must also be taken out; but if three of the
same suit they may be passed by. When the pack has been carefully gone
through, shuffled and cut, the process is gone through twice more, in
all three times. They are now all laid out in rows of four and read.
When this is done they are gathered together and laid two by two,
thus:--
NORTH.
WEST. EAST.
SOUTH.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven,
twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, and so on till the pack
is exhausted. Those at the top are the North, those at the bottom are
the South, those at the right hand the East, those at the left hand
the West. The North is to be read first, as that is supposed to happen
first; the South next, the East next, and the West last.