Jack was the first to recover the full use of his faculties, and when he did so he found himself in Stygian darkness.
A dozen pairs of arms were clasped about his body, it seemed, and he was being whisked swiftly along in a direction that was unknown to him.
Neither he nor Joe had as yet seen what sort of looking fellows their captors were, so, of course, they had not the remotest idea as to who were carrying them off.
Jack heard a series of doglike noises all around him, and he came to the conclusion that it must be a gang of some mysterious animals who were carrying him to their den.
The brave young Englishman determined to make a desperate effort to escape from them.
Exerting all his strength, he strove to free himself.
But he soon found it to be utterly useless. The more he struggled, the tighter the clutch became about his body.
And Joe! The delicate, little fellow was so badly frightened at his mysterious capture that he fainted.
In a very few minutes Jack beheld a light ahead of him, and in a short space of time he was able to see about him fairly well.
When he found that his captors were such little fellows, he again made a wild effort to free himself.