It did not occur to him that he had tried it several times before, himself, but could never find the hiding-places afterward.

He puzzled over the matter some time, and finally decided that some witch had interfered and broken the charm.

He thought he would satisfy himself on that point; so he searched around till he found a small sandy spot with a little funnel-shaped depression in it.
He laid himself down and put his mouth close to this depression and called-- "Doodle-bug, doodle-bug, tell me what I want to know! Doodle-bug, doodle-bug, tell me what I want to know!" The sand began to work, and presently a small black bug appeared for a second and then darted under again in a fright.
"He dasn't tell! So it WAS a witch that done it.

I just knowed it." He well knew the futility of trying to contend against witches, so he gave up discouraged.

But it occurred to him that he might as well have the marble he had just thrown away, and therefore he went and made a patient search for it.