Thread: "Folding them up till he was ready to put them on"

From H. Rider Haggard's "King Solomon's Mines":

"Presently I missed Good, and I looked to see what had become of him. Soon I observed him sitting by the bank of the stream, in which he had been bathing. He had nothing on but his flannel shirt, and his natural habits of extreme neatness having reasserted themselves, he was actively employed in making a most elaborate toilet. He had washed his gutta-percha collar, had thoroughly shaken out his trousers, coat and waistcoat, and was now folding them up neatly till he was ready to put them on, shaking his head sadly as he scanned the numerous rents and tears in them, which naturally had resulted from our frightful journey."

Was he packing them for a possibility to put them on in the distant future? Or he was going to put them on as soon as they are "ready"? What could that mean? The cloth was dry and clean since he hadn't washed it, just shaken out.

It is just saying that he neatly folded his clothing instead of just tossing them down on the ground haphazardly so that when he does go to put them back on, they will be nice and neat and not all messy. I think you are trying to read too much into the sentence. It is just as it is, he took them off, shook them out and then neatly folded them for when he was ready to put them back on. That's it. It is showing you HOW neat he is.

Thank you very much for the explanation!