XXIV

THE CARTWHEEL (WITH TWO WHIST PACKS)

EXTRACT an ace of each suit, and place the ace of spades in the centre of the board. That is the Hub, which is to be built upon downward, irrespective of suit. That is to say, you may place upon it the king of any suit, and upon that the queen of any suit, and so on down to the ace again. Five sequences in all will thus be built upon the Hub, made up of the two spade suits, one heart suit, one club suit, one diamond suit; but cards of the same suit need not follow one another. Place one of the other aces with its bottom edge against one side of the ace of spades, and the two remaining ones with their bottom edges aslant upon the corners of the other side of the ace of spades.

These three aces are the Spokes of the wheel, which are to be built upward in their own suit to the kings. Now range around the Spokes eighteen cards as you deal them in the form of a circle, their edges slightly overlapping on the inside of the circle.

Begin by taking from the rim of the wheel the cards which will build upon the aces and filling their places from the pack. You will presently have to form a rubbish-heap, which hereafter is to be played from whenever possible. Remember to build upon the Hub, or axle, whenever you can, especially with spades. But if at any time there are two cards of the same value on the wheel, belonging to the diamond, heart, or club suit, play one of these on the Hub, even in preference to a spade, as the difficulty of the game lies in remembering what cards of the three other suits have been played on the Hub, and this will help to save your memory. If the cards are played rightly, the game is certain to come out, but generally you will find that you have played on to the Hub two of the same denomination in hearts, clubs, or diamonds, so that at the end the Spoke in question is incomplete and a portion of the rim of the wheel is left.

EXAMPLE

Put on to the Hub, in order, the king of diamonds, queen of hearts, knave of spades, 10 of diamonds or of hearts (keeping in mind which suit you use), 9 of clubs, 8 of hearts or clubs. Put on to the ace of hearts the 2 and 3 of hearts; on to the ace of diamonds the 2 of diamonds. By this time other cards will have appeared in the wheel, which may work in better than those at present exposed. Building on the Hub itself must never be interrupted for long, as the greater part of the cards are due upon it.