So far as his hat and nether garments went, they were, if not tattered, not very far from it; but the coat he wore was not only trim but made of the finest cloth and without the smallest sign of wear.

It was so conspicuously fine, and looked so grotesquely out of place on the man wearing it, that he could pass no one without rousing curiosity, and he probably had all he wanted to do for the next few days in explaining how a fine gentleman's coat had fallen to his lot.
But to Sweetwater its interest lay in something more important than the amusing incongruity it offered to the eye.

It looked exactly like the one belonging to Mr.Roberts which had escaped his scrutiny in so remarkable a way.

Should it prove to be that same, how fortunate he was to have it brought thus easily within his reach and under circumstances so natural it was not necessary for him to think twice how best to take advantage of them.
Father Dobbins--for that is the name by which this old codger was known to the boys--was, as might be expected, very proud of his new acquisition and quite blind to the contrast it offered to his fringed-out trouser-legs.

He had a smile on his face which broadened as he caught Sweetwater's sympathetic glance.
"Fine day," he mumbled.