Longarm said, “I’ll just settle for a glass of water right now, if you can spare it.”
Nelson laughed heartily. He said, “I think you must have meant that as a joke, Marshal, as you can see that we are well endowed with the commodity. We have six free-flowing artesian wells on the place and twenty windmills.”
Longarm nodded dryly. “Yeah, you’ve done a good job of finding water. It’s a hell of a place to come to find it, that’s all I can say.”
Asher Nelson was leading him toward the center of the room. There were big leather couches on all four sides, with chairs scattered about. There was a low table in the middle of the room. It was very much a masculine room, but somehow, it reminded Longarm of a hotel lobby. There were skins on the floor. He could see one of a zebra, one of a tiger, and several that he could not identify. On one whole wall of the huge room ran a gun case. It must, he thought, have contained thirty or forty rifles, some of them with telescopic sights.
Mr. Nelson bade him to sit down, and he took a chair at the end of one of the leather chairs. Nelson sat catty-cornered to Longarm so they were talking across a space of a few feet.
Nelson said, “Water only, Mr. Long? Or Marshal Long, I should say. We have some fine twenty-year-old brandy. Some Madeira wine, if you care for that. And we have beer. I almost forgot that.”
Longarm hated to drink with anyone he was fixing to have trouble with, but the thought of a good slug of brandy was tempting. He said, “Well, maybe I’ll have a little brandy along with that glass of water.”
Nelson nodded his head. Longarm looked around and saw that the servant had been standing around, waiting, listening. He disappeared instantly.
Nelson turned back around to Longarm.
“Well, now, Marshal. What can we do for you? What brings you this far out into the open country?”
Longarm was not ready to play his hand. He said, “Well, you don’t seem to think it’s far out in the country. You’ve chosen to set up out here in a place where you find not too many outfits like you’ve got.”
Nelson shrugged. “Oh, I guess you can say that my brothers and I are eccentric in the sense that while we’re not hermits, we do like our privacy. It also gives us the feeling of openness that we once knew in South Africa struggling to make our way in life.”
Longarm took a look around at the wood-paneled room with its high-beamed ceiling. He said, “Well, it appears that you’ve made your way in life. Quite a long way. I don’t reckon you’ve put a spread like this together on a storekeeper’s wages.”
Nelson laughed heartily. “No, we managed to get fortunate in South Africa and make a little find in the gold fields.”
Longarm said, “I’m kind of confused, Mr. Nelson. This says White’s Ranch, but your name is Nelson. Why would that be?”
Asher Nelson’s face was lined, but it was broad and friendly-looking, with gray-blue eyes. The wrinkles crinkled and the eyes smiled as he said, “Well, I suppose it’s sort of a sentimental gesture on our part. We had a partner by the name of Josh White. It was Josh who actually turned the spade in the earth that led us to the find. So, in his memory, we’ve chosen to name this place after him. We also own a hotel in the town of Santa Rosa. We named that after him also.”
“in his memory?”
Asher Nelson nodded. “Yes. Unfortunately, Josh didn’t make it out with us. We buried him in the mine when we closed it.”
“Too bad he didn’t get to share in the wealth.”
Nelson shrugged. “Well, everything doesn’t always come out in the way one would like it to, does it, Marshal?”
Longarm looked again at the rack of rifles. “Ya’ll are pretty well armed here.”
“Oh, reminders of the past. We used to like to hunt game in Africa. Possibly you noticed some game in our pastures that you might not have seen before?”
“Not outside of a circus. You haven’t got an elephant around here, have you?”
Nelson slapped his knee. “Funny you should have mentioned that. We have two. We get quite a bit of use out of them around here. They’re working elephants. As a matter Of fact, they’re from India. We toured quite a bit of that country for a while. The Indian elephant is the working elephant. A lot of people don’t know that they are different from their African cousin.”
Longarm said, “An elephant is an elephant to me.”
Nelson looked up and said, “Ah, here are our drinks.”
Longarm took the water in one hand and the brandy in the other. Nelson was having brandy. He lifted his glass and said, “Well, here’s to good fortune, Marshal.”
Longarm lifted his glass. “Luck,” he said.
They both drank, and then Longarm set his brandy glass at his feet and took a drink of water. He set that down and then reached in his back pocket and pulled out the poster. It was still folded, so it looked like any other piece of paper. He said, “Mr. Nelson, where are your two brothers?”
Asher Nelson looked to his left. “Oh, they’re about the place somewhere. I’m sure they will have been told by now that we have a guest and they’ll come straightaway. Could you tell me your business, Marshal? Or would that be prying?”
Longarm glanced over at the gun rack that took over the wall. He said, “I don’t reckon I’ve seen quite as many rifles, Mr. Nelson, outside of an infantry regiment. I don’t believe they had as high-caliber rifles as those you’ve got over there. Any reason?”
Nelson glanced back toward the rack as if to make sure he knew what Longarm was talking about. “Oh, our arsenal. Well, my brothers and myself developed a passion for big-game hunting, first in Africa and then when we traveled the world. We’ve got most of the major trophies. Whenever you like, I’ll show you our trophy room. In fact, it was the search of a trophy head that brought us to this part of the country. We were after the bighorn sheep, which is found only in the mountains of New Mexico. Once we were here, we recognized that this flat country looked so very much like the Transvaal in South Africa. And being kind of private and hermit-like”—Nelson gave a little laugh—“by nature, we thought this might be an ideal place to settle. It’s within reach of a railroad and we can get to where we need via the rail. Ship out of New Orleans or out of Galveston in Texas or out of any of the ports in the east. So you might say that the rifles represent our greatest love, which is big-game hunting.”
Longarm said, narrowing his eyes, “You say you’ve got most of the big-game trophies. What are you missing?”
Nelson shrugged. “Oh, nothing of considerable value. Just little chinks here and there left to fill in. Perhaps we will have to make a trip to Australia someday to find what we seek. Perhaps even another trip back to the Himalayas.”
Longarm thought a moment. He slowly unfolded the paper. “Makes me very curious, you talking about hunting. I’m wondering if what I’m holding right here might not be a hunting permit.” With that, Longarm reached forward and placed the poster on the low table in front of Asher Nelson. “Is this your work, Mr. Nelson?”
Asher Nelson glanced down at the poster. He seemed genuinely surprised. “Why, that’s your name, Marshal. Has someone been playing a joke on you?” He laughed slightly. “The idea of putting out a wanted poster on a United States Marshal is a rather curious prank, wouldn’t you say?”
Longarm said in an even voice, “I’m not viewing it as a prank. I’m viewing it as an accessory to attempted murder.”
Nelson took a drink. “Oh, surely not. Anyone seeing this could only think it was some trickster up to a prank.”
Longarm tapped the bottom of the poster with his fingernail. “Did you see this part here where it says to apply to the Nelsons from Santa Rosa, New Mexico?”
Asher Nelson leaned forward, his face looking disturbed. “Why, no. My heavens, it does say that. What in the world? Marshal, this is most disturbing.” He looked over at Longarm. “So that’s your business here, to find out if we’ve had a hand in this. Well, I can certainly assure you that we haven’t.”