character!"

"You mean these garments I wear?"

"Certainly! A frock-coat helps out your pose before an ignorant public."

"He stole that coat from me," squeaked a fat man, standing at a little
distance, scrubbing a torn sleeve over his grimy, sweat-streaked face.
"He picked it fair off'n my back. I have follered him to show him up as
a robber and a fake. That's so help me!"

Riotous laughter from all the listeners followed that declaration;
a glance at the tubby tramp and survey of the tall young man whose
contours fitted the garments made the fat man's assertion seem like a
huge joke.

"I can prove it!" squalled the vagrant.

"Beat it! Get out of this city!" commanded a policeman. "If you
don't we'll have you on the rock-pile. What ye mean by such guff?" He
flourished his stick and the tramp hurried away.

"It's no use," he whined. "Grab and bluff! Him what can do it best
always wins. That's the way the world goes!"

"When I took these clothes off the back of my vanishing friend I felt
that they would make a change in my life," stated Farr, with a smile
which provoked more laughter. "But I did not dream that they would bring
me such prominence in so short a time." He bowed to the man in the car.