To Tell The Amount Of The Numbers Of Any Three Cards That A Person
shall draw from the Pack.
After the person has drawn his three cards, draw one yourself and lay
it aside, for it is necessary that the number of the remaining cards
be divisible by three, which they will not be in a pack of fifty-two
cards, if only three be drawn. The card you draw, you may call the
confederate, and pretend it is by the aid of that card you discover
the amount of the others. Then tell the
party to add as many more to
each of his cards as will make its number sixteen, which is the third
part of the remaining forty-eight cards; therefore, suppose he has
drawn a ten, a seven, and a six; then, to the first he must add six
cards, to the second nine, and to the third ten, which together make
twenty-five, and the four cards drawn being added to them make
twenty-nine. You then take the remaining cards, and, telling them
over, as in the last amusement, you find their number to be
twenty-three, the amount of the three cards the person drew.
This amusement may also be performed without touching the cards,
thus:--When the party has drawn his three cards, and you have drawn
one, let him deduct the number of each of the cards he has drawn from
seventeen, which is one-third of the pack after you have drawn your
card; and let him tell you the amount of the several remainders, to
which you privately add one to the card you drew, and, deducting that
amount from fifty-two, (the whole number of the cards,) the remainder
will be the amount of the three cards drawn.