What could the boy be doing?
The loft was an unknown land to Bonaparte.

He had often wondered what was up there; he liked to know what was in all locked-up places and out-of-the-way corners, but he was afraid to climb the ladder.

So Bonaparte looked up, and in the name of all that was tantalizing, questioned what the boy did up there.

The loft was used only as a lumber-room.

What could the fellow find up there to keep him so long?
Could the Boer-woman have beheld Waldo at that instant, any lingering doubt which might have remained in her mind as to the boy's insanity would instantly have vanished.