Let us remember that in Chapter Eight the dwarves and
Bilbo appear to be in a dire situation. They are walking through the middle of an
enormous forest with no hope or sign of ever reaching the end of it. In addition, they
have ran out of water and food, and are incredibly thirsty and hungry. Note how they are
described by the author in this chapter:
There was nothing now to be done but to tighten
the belts round their empty stomachs, and hoist their empty sacks and packs, and trudge
along the track without any great hope of getting to the end before they lay down and
died of starvation.
It is in
this state therefore that they see twinkles in the dark off the path, that they think
are evidence of other people and, more importantly, food and water. It is their hunger
and starvation that tempt them off the path and make them ignore the warnings they had
been given by Beorn and Gandalf. Of course, the magic of the elves they disturb leads
them ever-further away from the path until they are hopelessly
lost.
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