“The first thing I’ll do is to close that trapdoor,” said Mr. Shull. “I don’t want any one else falling down there.”
Bert wondered how it was that Danny Rugg hadn’t fallen down, but he decided the other boy must have passed to one side of the opening.
“There!” exclaimed Mr. Shull, as he slammed the trapdoor shut. “I shouldn’t have left that open but I didn’t expect anybody to come in the church at this time of day. And it’s mighty lucky for you, Bert, that I had tossed those old bags and carpets down right under the trap. Falling on them probably saved you from having broken bones.”
“Yes, I guess so,” Bert said. He was glad the sexton did not think to ask him why he had come into the church. To tell that would mean to mention Danny Rugg. And, somehow or other, Bert wanted to keep this a secret. He had an idea that Danny had a secret reason for going into the church.
“And maybe I can find out why,” thought Bert to himself.
He was feeling much better now, and when the sexton gave him another drink and then got a whisk broom and flicked the dust and cobwebs off Bert’s clothes, the Bobbsey boy was almost himself again.
There was a lump on his head where it had struck against the edge of the box, and his head felt sore, while one of his shoulders ached. But Bert had been hurt worse than this playing football, and he was not going to mind now.
“Do you want me to take you home Bert?” asked the sexton.
“Oh, no! I have to go to school!” the boy exclaimed.
“I guess they’ll excuse you from school when they hear what’s happened,” said Mr. Shull. “But do you feel able to go back to your class?”