"Don't you do it!" cried Nat. "Here, wait, I'll fix him! Hold him!"
Nat poured some of the stuff in the bottle on the cotton and advanced on Dave. At the same time Tom Shocker caught Dave by both arms and essayed to hold him.
Dave was strong, and a sudden fear gave him additional strength. He might have been a match for his two assailants, but for the stuff on the cotton. This was chloroform, and when Nat clapped the saturated cotton to his mouth and nose he was speedily rendered all but unconscious.
"Don't give him too much!" he heard Tom Shocker say.
"You watch him, while I tie his hands," answered Nat, and then Dave was forced back and onto the bed. He struggled weakly, but could not free himself, and before he realized it he was a close prisoner, with his hands tied fast to the head of the bed and his feet fast to the lower end. He was flat on his back.
"Now, you can stay there until somebody comes to release you," said Nat, mockingly. "I reckon that will teach you a lesson not to send me off on freight trains!"
"Nat, I've got to get back to Buffalo to catch my train for Chicago."
"Humph. Not to-night. You'll stay here."
"The others will worry about me."
"Let them worry. I'll be glad of it."