He promptly picked them up and placed them in his belt.
"I wonder what has become of Joe?" he muttered. "Poor boy! I don't want to see any harm come to him, and I shan't, either, if I can help it. But this is enough to scare the life out of a little fellow like him. I wonder...."
At that instant a shrill scream rang out, and Jack started as though he had been shot.
Turning quickly, he held the still burning match in front of him, and beheld a startling, not to say horrible, sight.
Crawling over the ground, a few feet from him, was a monstrous creature resembling a crab!
But that was not the worst of it. Joe was gripped firmly in its huge claws.
[CHAPTER XIII.]
SEARCHING FOR JACK AND JOE.
"Hide!" exclaimed Van, when he saw Doc Clancy and his confederate running toward them with the dwarfs at their heels.