But has he solved it? No! my friend, no more than you or I. He has merely deceived you; but most cleverly, you must admit. The pan is without any preparation whatever; but as much cannot be said of the wand, which he is continually stirring around in the pan. This wand is hollow, with an opening at one end only; and in the wand, previous to the trick, of course, are placed the properly seasoned ingredients of an omelette, after which the end is closed with a metal plug that is turned and enameled to correspond with the opposite end of the wand. When the pan is being examined the performer is holding the wand in his hand, and such an innocent-appearing black stick is never suspected of being in any way connected with the trick. Just before holding the pan over the lamp the performer finds it a most easy matter to remove the plug from the end of the wand, when, by holding the wand by the closed end, he can empty the contents into the pan in the mere act of passing the open end of the wand around the inside of the pan. (Fig. 45.) [Illustration: Fig. 45.--The “Magician’s Omelette.”] The metal of which the pan is made being thin, and there not being a great quantity of the omelette, assisted by a large flame from the lamp, it only requires a few moments to cook the omelette, when it is turned out on a plate and carried down to the audience. It is hardly necessary to say that when the cooked omelette is carried down, the wand is left on the stand, which prevents any inquisitive person asking to see it. Spinning and Balancing Tricks. The spinning handkerchief is a great favorite with jugglers. A handkerchief is borrowed, thrown in the air and caught on the end of a whirling stick held by the juggler, when the handkerchief spreads out to its full size and commences to spin around rapidly. The secret is that in the end of the stick a needle is inserted about one-quarter of an inch, leaving the sharp end out. When the handkerchief is caught on the end of the whirling stick the needle point passes through it, thus preventing its falling off the stick, which is rapidly whirled around, and the handkerchief will spread out and spin about on the end of the stick. [Illustration: Fig. 46.--The Spinning Handkerchief.] Jugglers are very partial to tricks performed with eggs, and spinning an egg on its smaller end is a trick they are almost sure to perform. It is impossible to spin a raw egg; so our juggler uses a hard-boiled one, and spins it on its small end in a shallow japanned tray. If the tray is kept gently moving in a small circle in the opposite direction to that in which the egg is spinning, the latter will continue to spin as long as desired. (Fig. 47.) [Illustration: Fig. 47.--Spinning an Egg.]