Peacoated

Captain Doone came up on deck and, after a glance at the mass of peacoated and flat-hatted tars, stepped over to the rail, where he stood stroking his beard, looking down upon the myriad sampans that clung fly-wise about the big ship’s stern.

He wondered then exactly how much the peacoated letter carrier knew.

Markham had rather thought the idea that Gibbons had followed anyone to Waterloo had already been dismissed, since they had traced the path of the peacoated man back through Waterloo station and proved conclusively that he had come off the 9:06 train from Reading.