Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1885-09-10
Wrom the chicago 1edser.l
WILD NAN !.
Or
IlG OutcaSt's Secret!
A GREAT CHICAGO STORY.
BIZ WELDON j. COBB,
Author Of "At Bier Mercy" The Love Of
Her Life, I" THE Manacled Hand, The
Telegraph Detective, /" The Stolen
Bridegroom" Etc, Etc.
CHAPTER Xxx.



by the river side. did not delay to ascertain
if her enemies were in pursuit, but with
| flying feet shaped her course toward the
| building whittier Wild Nan had directed
| her.
The exciting thoughts in her confused,
| startled mind accorded fully with the swift
| pace she kept up, until she gained the
street where Mans new home was located,
and finally the structure itself.
The direction of the wanderer, though
brief, had been definite, and Edith, after
ascending two flights of stairs and looking
about the place, finally located the apart
ment to which her rescuer had directed
! her.
The knob turned and the door opened at
| the push of the hand, and with q wildly
throbbing heart. anxiously expectant, she
entered the room. Her lips opened to form
but one word
@Percyl"
But there was no response to the whisper
of excited suspense, and as she glided to a
| little stand upon which was a lamp partly
turned down, she cast its feeble radiance
over the room and glanced around with
eager searching gaze.
Neither in the outer and larger room nor
| in the little bed chamber off from it, could
she discern any trace of that dear one she
SO devotedly loved, her husband, Percy
Sherwood.
Could it be that Nan had deceived her
or, what seemed more probable, had her
husband regained his strength sufficiently
to go forth in quest of Wild Nan-perhaps
of herself? Nan had found no opportunity
to detail to her all concerning Sherwood,
and Edith sought for more light on
the singular disappearance of the man she
LII k,11 ~ 4
to which she had by Mans direction fed for
safety.
She started and eagerly seized an open
sheet of paper lying on a table at one side
of the apartment as her ready vision recog-
nized the handwriting it bore. Her burning
gaze traversed the brief scrawl, evidently
hurriedly made, and her face grew hopeful
and satisfied as she perused its contents.
The letter read:
MAN: Contrary to your advice, but unable
to resist my anxiety and suspense, leave
here to seek Edith at the river side house.
am strong enough to aid if she is in peril
and you fail to rescue her. If you return
before do YOU will know that am on the
track of our enemies, but cautious, pru-
dent, and patient in all do. P. s."
He has gone to seek me, murmured
Edith, as she pressed the letter to her lips
with passionate fervency. "Oh, Percy,
Percy, if ever doubted you l could not
mistrust your noble heart now, fateful as is
| the mystery of that woman Beatrice Avenal,
dark as is the record Elmer Warren has re-
yealed to me-.
She subdued even anxiety itself for the
man she loved, as she realized that with two
! powerful friends In the field she need not
| fear for the outcome of Mans strategy.
II will patiently await her return" she
decided. His, too, perhaps; for if they
meet, with Mans object accomplished-my
rescue-they will not remain near our ene-
mics.
But she little knew how devoted to the
attainment of a cherished object was the
wanderer. A fathers death to ayenge, the
wronged yet to be righted, Wild Nan was
a relentless Nemesis who would only rest
content when she had pursued to the bitter
end the man who had SO long evaded the
dealings of justice and fate.
As to Percy Sherwood, he had indeed
escaped the deadly knife thrust of his un-
natural stepbrother, Elmer Warren, given
him in the old works. Mans words had
stated as much; the note in his handwrit-
ing, recognized by his wife, verified the
fact.
His had been stormy, eventful life,
fateful with secrets and cares In the past,
and like a wild dream from the moment he
had fallen in with Elmer Warren near the
desolate quarry, where Armitage, the mes
senger, had met his fate.
] Apparently dying in the arms Of Edith
Leslie, he too had seen the lamp shattered
by blow from the missile thrown by Wild
! Nan, had heard the wild exclamation of
terror and surprise Of his enemies, and
then utter darkness and silence in the
room told him that they had fed.
He was growing weaker each moment,
but he aroused himself as he again heard
footsteps in the room. and he murmured
softly the name of Edith, who had been
torn SO rudely from his side few moments
before.
Then in quiet tones Wild Nan revealed
herself and bade him arouse every energy
to leave the place ere his enemies returned.
The bloody trail these foes had traced to
the edge of the quarry pit was not, as they
supposed, that made by himself in wild
fight but the marks of the body Of Armi-
tage dragged thither by themselves.
Nan had assisted Sherwood as best she
could. Twice after they had left the works
he had tainted from exhaustion caused BY
the loss of blood, but two hours later they
reached the humble hut she called home,
and there she endeavored to rally his weak
ened faculties by dressing his wound and
GIVING him some medicine she had once
Received from neichbor when she was
sick.
+ But, as he grew feverlsh, and sne realized
tnat tney miens pc tlaceo tnere, Sne aroused
MN 70 temporary actlvlIy, tnougnt, ana re-
solve By inparting TO him the perils OF hit
wound and pursuit by Warren and Leslie
In reply he had handed her his pocket-bool
and bade her obtain carriage to convey
him to the city, where he could receive sur.