ean palm, mystic words and so
forth, it would baffle most audiences. Yet it is simplicity itself,
and this is the secret.

When the Swastika is drawn on the piece of tile, the performer in
placing it on the ground to be trodden upon, puts his thumb on the
drawing, and thereby gets an inverse print of it on the ball of his
thumb. The tile is powdered and the hand held palm upwards over it.
When turning the assistant's hand palm downwards, the conjuror does so
with his fingers at the back of the assistant's hand and the thumb on
the clean palm, leaving the imprint of the Swastika upon it. A rub
with his thumb on his garment, or the ground, removes instantly all
trace of the medium between the tile and the assistant's palm.
Charcoal must be used as it is soft to write with and gives the best
imprints. An "HH" pencil for instance, might do, but the imprint would
be hardly visible on the palm.

I consider this little trick to be one of the most mystifying of the
Indian conjuror.

THE EGG BAG

An effective little trick usually follows that of the Cut and Restored
String in the form of an egg being put into a small bag. A magic pass
is made over the mouth of the bag, which is then turned inside out,
stamped upon if necessary, and slapped all over to show that it is
quite empty and that the egg has disappeared. At will, and with
another magic pass, the egg reappears from the bag when it is turned
over, mouth downwards.

[Illustration: Shah Mahommed performing the Egg bag trick.]

The secret lies in the fact that the bag, which is of some opaque
material, and is nine inches deep and six inches broad, has one of its
sides double. The easiest way to make such a bag is to take a piece of
cloth six inches broad and 24 inches long. Fold six inches of one end
over and then turn the other end to where the cloth has been folded.
Stitch up either side, thus making a bag.

When the egg is put in, it drops to the bottom of the bag. When the
performer dips his hand in again to take out the egg, in doing so he
slips it into the pocket formed inside, and leaves it there, bringing
his hand out empty and from which the egg has disappeared. The bag
being turned inside out does not expose the egg which is in the inner
pocket. When treading on or slapping the bag, care should of course be
taken to miss the egg.

CHAPTER VII

THE DANCING DUCK

As his last trick was with water the Jadoo-wallah sensibly enough
proceeds