pages: unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf, 292
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unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf | 292 | THE DISAPPEARING HANDKERCHIEF time to act, and away we went, leaving the lodge to its feast. So much time had been lost in selecting the com- mittee that we reached the wharf just in time to catch the 5 o'clock boat. On landing I received a prearranged signal from my assistants that all was well, and as I watched my committee dash up the stairs I knew that their quest would be rewarded. When the committee and the writer returned to the lodge-room, a mechanic was required to pry open the box. There lay the identical handkerchiefs furnished by my spectators, who could hardly believe their eyes. On other occasions I have asked my audience to select a spokesman, who in a loud voice would announce the point at which the handkerchiefs would be found, and then my man, waiting just outside the door, would mount his bicycle and pedal like mad for the hiding-place, naturally outstripping any committee appointed. But the first method, that of selecting the place beforehand and ha ving all arrangements made, even to the three prepared cards, is safest and is probably the one used by Robert- Houdin to deceive the French monarch. I doubt if he even had three different cards prepared, as he claims. I believe he exaggerated his feat, for that would have been taking long chances. For this trick I claim not an iota of originality. I simply fitted it to the time, the place, and the audience, and that I believe is all Robert-Houdin did when he "invented" the disappearing handkerchief trick for the amusement of his sovereign. [ 263 ) |