right away!" cried his twin sister,
and he loosened the string.

Pretty soon Bert again dropped the spade he had taken up and said:

"There, Freddie, you dig awhile. I want to see about the lines and
poles. We have almost worms enough."

Freddie was glad to do this, and Flossie was eager to pick up the
crawling creatures. Bert went back to the tent to get out the poles,
lines and hooks. There he found his father and mother looking at the
broken box that had held the tin bugs.

"How do you think it became smashed?" Mrs. Bobbsey asked.

"I don't know," answered her husband. "It looks as though some one had
stepped on it."

"But who could do that? Flossie and Freddie think so much of the bugs
that they take good care of them, and they wouldn't put them where they
would be stepped on. Do you suppose any of the men that have been
helping set up the camp could have done it?"

"I hardly think so. If they did they wouldn't take the bugs away, and
that is what has happened. It seems to me as though the box had been
broken so the bugs could be taken out. For the cover fits on tightly,
and it often sticks. Freddie and Flossie often come to me to open it for
them. Probably whoever tried to open it could not do so at first, and
then stepped on it enough to crack it open without damaging the tin bugs
inside."

"But who would do such a thing?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, and Bert found
himself asking, in his mind, the same question.

"That's something we'll have to find out," said Mr. Bobbsey, and neither
of them noticed Bert, who, by this time, was inside the tent where the
fishing things were kept.

"Could it be the gypsies?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey.

"Well, I don't altogether believe all that talk about the gypsies," said
Mr. Bobbsey slowly. "I think they may have taken Helen's talking doll,
but that's all. However, if there are any gypsies here on the island,
and if they saw those gay red, yellow and spotted bugs of Flossie's and
Freddie's they might have taken them. They like those colors, and the
crawling bugs might amuse them."

"Oh, but if there are gypsies on this island I don't want to stay
camping here! They might take away some of the children--Flossie or
Freddie! Nan and Bert are too old."

"Nonsense!" laughed Mr. Bobbsey. "There are no gypsies here, and you
needn't worry."

"All the same I wish Snap were here with us," went on Mrs. Bobbsey. "I'd
feel safer if I knew the dog were with the children all the while, as h