But before they reached them our friends saw the whole crowd enter a passage, similar to the one through which they had reached the place.
Though they were unable to catch a glimpse of them, they knew that Jack and Joe were among the crowd.
The four were now hurrying swiftly along in the wake of the dwarfs who had Doc Clancy and the other fellow.
Van conjectured that they would most likely lead the way into the same passage Jack and Joe had been taken.
In this he was right, for by the time he and his three friends had made half the distance across the open space the last dwarf had entered the passage.
The four now started forward on a run, and a couple of minutes later they were at the spot where the mysterious underground dwellers had disappeared with their prisoners.
But they had scarcely entered the passage when they heard the dwarfs coming back, as thought in a combined rush.
There was a niche close at hand, and, noticing this, Van quickly motioned his companions to follow him into it.
They had scarcely sought seclusion in the niche when the foremost of the dwarfs went rushing by.
In the semilight that prevailed in that part of the cavern our hero noticed that Doc Clancy and his ally were in their midst, still being carried along as prisoners.