Joe made no reply, but again tackled the leather thongs with his sharp teeth.
He must have made an extraordinary effort, for in less than a minute Jack felt that his hands were free.
"Good!" he exclaimed. "Now, turn your back toward me, and I'll set you free in short order."
Carefully drawing his knife from his belt, he was as good as his word, and the next minute the two captives were standing upright in the cave with a revolver in either hand.
But the dwarfs paid no attention to them whatever. They still kept up their weird chant, and had now formed themselves into a procession and were marching about in every conceivable shape.
When the bulk of the crowd had moved a few yards from the mouth of the cave, Jack concluded it was time for them to step out.
"Come, Joe," said he, coolly; "we'll have to be going now. Our friends won't know what to make of our long absence."
Joe looked at his companion with a glance of admiration in his large eyes, and then followed him from the cave.
This seemed to be just exactly what the dwarfs wanted them to do, for the moment they stepped from the cave a double line on either side rushed up and completely surrounded them.
Both captives were too much surprised at the unexpected turn of affairs, and before they were scarcely aware of it they were tightly hemmed in like a wedge in a block.