Page 432 - The Ashley Book of Knots

TRICKS AND PUZZLES

2610. To remove a circular cord from around the arm, while the

hand is held in a waistcoat pocket: Take a piece of cord eight feet

long and tie the ends together. Remove the coat, put the right hand 2&10

through the looped cord and into the waistcoat pocket. The problem

is to remove the cord without untying it and without removing the

right hand from the ocket or passing the cord through the pocket. '0-:'
, '

With the left han pull the cord to the top of the shoulder. Stick

the left hand under the lapel and out through the waistcoat armhole

and pull the cord to the collar and over the head, leading one part

around the back of the neck, the other under the chin. Thrust the

bight out through the left armhole and stick the left arm through the

bight. As the waistcoat is buttoned, a few moments may be required

to work the cord down inside the waistcoat until it has reached the

waist; from there it will drop to the ground.

2611. To remove a pencil that is fast to a coat: Tie a RING HITCH
261\

into the buttonhole of a spectator's coat with a short piece of cord

that has been doubled. Secure the ends to a long new lead pencil.

The length of cord between the buttonhole and the pencil should be

about two thirds the length of the pencil. The problem is to remove

the cord from the coat without untyin~ the pencil end. This was

shown to me by J. M. Drew. The solution is to remove the coat from

the back, then open the RING HITCH and work the whole coat gradu-

ally out through the bight of the RING HITCH in the manner indi-

cated by the arrows in the second diagram. Select for a victim

someone who, you feel certain, can well afford to have his coat

pressed.

2612. To separate two interlocked BOWLINES without untying

either: The loop end of one BOWLINE must be backtracked into the

other knot until it has capped the other end of the rope and is with-

2b'2.
drawn. The second knot must be well opened before it is entered.

2613. Insecure shackles. Two persons are tied together in the

manner pictured. The problem is for them to rid themselves of each

other without untying the knots. The cords should be just long

enough to encourage the couple to attempt various absurdities, but

not so long that they will lose all sense of intimacy. To divorce the

couple: Take a bight from near the center of one cord and, without

twisting it, stick it up under and through one of the end loops in

the other cord, then over the hand, under the loop at the back, and 2&13

cast off over the hand.

2614. The "Russian Escape." A prisoner is supposed to be secured

to his guard in the manner pictured. In his efforts to escape he rubs

his hands together until the heels of his hands pinch a bight of the

rope. It is then an easy matter to roll the bight down as far as the

roots of the fingers, where it can be grasped with the finger tips

of one hand and slip ed over the backs of the fingers of the other

hand. The prisoner t en pulls away and the cord or rope slips over

the back of his hand and under the handcuff lashing. The latter ,- ,

~-
,~
may be tied fairly tight without endangering the trick. II

\' , ..
..
'- ,.

,
",., lilt.

[ 4 3 ]
2