4. FROM A TABLE
The loading of articles from a table can be done perfectly—that is, imperceptibly—by the proper method; but the performer who passes the hat behind the table and sweeps off a load, hanging on a nail, is misdirecting himself only. The best way to learn the correct method is to practice with a wooden cannon ball. This has a hole bored out large enough for the insertion of the middle finger; it is set on a small shelf, or wire ring, behind the table in such a way that the hole points upwards obliquely at such an angle that when you hold the hat crown upwards, the thumb on the brim and the fingers inside, you can insert the middle finger in the hole, the other three fingers supporting the hat (Fig. 1).
With the ball thus set, holding the hat in the right hand with the middle finger free, go behind your table to pick up some article from it, bring the hat a little above the ball, lean forward to take the article with your left hand, let the right hand sink down until the front edge of the brim touches the table, insert the middle finger in the ball, lift it up into the hat; when the left hand, on which your whole attention has been fixed, has picked up the article, move away from the table, letting the right hand drop a little so that the crown of the hat is toward the spectators.
When you discover the ball in the hat, hold the hat with both hands, one on each side, the fingers inside; turn the hat mouth downwards and pretend to have great difficulty in getting the ball out, thus enhancing the surprise of its production. When you finally let the ball drop, you have another favorable moment for the introduction of another load from the coat pocket or from the profonde.
Any article that can be picked up by the first and second fingers can be loaded in this manner, for the hat can be held quite firmly by the thumb and the third and fourth fingers. The sleight requires practice for there must not be the slightest fumbling or even hesitation; so far as the spectators are concerned, nothing should be seen but the action of the left hand in picking up the object from the table.
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