“Open,” announced Jerry. “I won’t have to use the keys. Come on in, and don’t stumble over a chair or any of the kneeling benches.”
They entered the dark vestry and closed the door behind them.
“Bear cats and little kittens!” muttered Ned. “It’s as black as a bottle of ink.”
“I’ve got a flashlight,” announced Jerry, producing a pocket electric lamp. By its light the boys made their way out of the vestry, up on the platform and over to where the picture hung.
“Got to have a ladder to reach it,” announced Bob.
“Put one of the big pulpit chairs on top of another and we can reach it,” said Jerry. “I figured that out when I was here this morning.”
“Big head!” ejaculated Ned.
Jerry was right about the chairs, and on this rather shaky pyramid, while Ned and Bob steadied it, Jerry reached up and lifted down the picture, no easy task, for it was in a heavy gold frame.
The Boxwood picture was one of the treasures of the institution; not because of its intrinsic worth, but because of the associations.
The Reverend Doctor Ebenezer Boxwood, to give him his proper title, had founded the college as a religious school, and the chapel was one of the first buildings erected. He had been a clergyman of great scholarly attainments, and a natural instructor.