It happened in this way.
The Continental Hotel, on Broadway, was the caravansera which Harkaway and the members of the Travelers' Club stayed at, and the genial proprietor, Mr. Merrifield, was much interested in the eccentric professor.
Meeting him in the hall one morning, seated in a chair with his legs on another, Mr. Merrifield said:
"I thought it was not an English custom, professor, to put your legs up at an angle of forty-five degrees?
"My dear sir," replied Mole, "there is nothing in this country that an Englishman cannot do and has not done in his own land."
"Can you drink whisky straight?"
"Try me," said Mole, with a twinkle in his eye.
"Can you play base-ball?"
"I think so. The fact is, I am a good cricket player, and I see no reason why I should not play the emasculated game you call base-ball."
"Well now," said Merrifield, "I'll give you an opportunity of showing what you can do in that direction."