The Knight´s Legacy

Province of Chubut

ESQUEL-CHUBUT PROVINCE

APRIL 2014

The house was troubled. Ayinhual, Matías´ mother was under the influence of a thrill due to the prospect of meeting a brother who until a few days before was only an unlikely hypothesis. Gerardo, the father, tried to show his phlegm doing practical things as was his custom. José Llanquinao had come from Trevelin since -although not personally acquainted with the new relative - he was who had made contact with his cousin through a Chilean Mapuche.

Shortly before noon a Mitsubishi 4WD van with Chilean plates parked in front of the house, and a man of about fifty years, elegantly dressed descended from it.

Lautaro Schmidl R. greeted his relatives very formally, although certain details gave Debbie the evidence that he was making efforts to keep his composure and forcing himself to suppress his great emotion.

Gerardo, in reality the less directly involved at least by blood, quietly pulled the thread of the conversation, showing a vein of peasant leadership that surprised Debbie, and pleased Matías. José stood somewhat apart, as a second degree relative, thinking that the Chilean, apparently of well-to-do man coming from a strongly stratified society perhaps would not feel entirely comfortable with his cousin's native features. In turn Debbie said to herself:

“This guy immediately realized that I am Jewish.”

So the presence of an outsider triggered all kinds of behaviors based on all kinds of prejudices.

Family stories circulated in both directions for hours. The locals learned that Pedro Martiniuk-Horstmann and his wife Sayen lived several years between distant Chilean relatives of the woman. Then, and after several abode and surname changes, the couple began trading in wool and sheepskins, becoming part of the bourgeoisie in the area. They had assumed the surname Schmidl, allegedly Swiss, and the R. stood for Rojas, adopted by Sayen as maiden family name. They had died some years earlier, after having reinvented themselves, not only in their identities, but in their social position.

Lautaro continued telling his relatives about the family business, since he in the meantime had become a medium size importer and exporter. The signs of prosperity were evident.

Throughout the day they continued exchanging anecdotes. Matías, naturally inclined toward harmony and friendly relations, saw with pleasure that both sides of his family had accepted each other as knowledge deepened. Lautaro, meanwhile, realized in the course of the conversation of the fundamental role that José had played on his parents´ flight to Chile, event without which he himself had not existed.

The next day, as had been planned, Matías, Debbie, José  and Lautaro traveled to Trevelin in the latter´s van. Once arrived they first had breakfast at a Welsh confectionary and performed a short sightseeing tour. Out of the first José stumbled upon a civilian of Indian appearance.

“It is odd.” He said thoughtful to his friends.”This is the third time I meet Nemesio Nahualkir in a few days. It seems as if our paths were crossing permanently.”

“What happens is that this entire situation keeps you in permanent alert and with a slight paranoia.” Argued Matías.

However José was not very convinced, although true to his custom he maintained his reserves to himself. Nobody could judge the logic or lack thereof of that succession of encounters better that he.

After the short tour they gathered in José´s  humble home placed in the outskirts of the city.

Slowly, each one showed his cards as mutual trust consolidated. Debbie soon realized that Lautaro´s discomfort with her actually emanated from uncertainty to talk about dangerous and sensitive family issues in front of someone not belonging to it. When the involvement of the young woman in the issue of Horstmann´s legacy became apparent, the discomfort disappeared and she was treated by the Chilean as someone with legitimate rights in the matter.

“When my father revealed to me his identity on my eighteenth birthday.”Narrated Lautaro. “ …he explained his roles in the German army and his performance in  Antarctica, and mentioned the notepads existence. He then gave me a track of its location, but I confess that this track has been meaningless for me even to this day. I think that it is a kind of encrypted code.”

This sentence immediately caught everyone´s attention. Indeed, the key to the entire Antarctic enigma could reside in the explanations that would follow.

“Father told me that we would find the notebooks where Millañir rests; I understand that he meant  a tomb.” Continued Lautaro.

Debbie and Matías looked bewildered and a bit disappointed. Indeed, the data shed no light, as had happened to Lautaro before. However, José had been thoughtful.

“The old Millañir, the little Silver Fox.” He whispered as he was smiling enigmatically.

“What are you talking about?”Asked hopefully Matías. “… do you know who Millañir was?”

“Of course.” “ answered José “… it was my uncle Toribio´s dog. As  you know, Toribio was Sayen´s father. When Pedro fled in the first place to the hill cabin not far the community, Millañir permanently accompanied him. It was the dog who warned Pedro about the presence of the murderers who came to kill him, and which allowed him to defend himself until the moment we arrived from the reservation with weapons and put them on the run. If it had not been for him, Pedro had been shot in front of the hut and neither your mother nor Lautaro would exist.”

“And how did the dog dye?” Asked Matías. “ …and above all, where and when?”

“Immediately after the attack, my uncle Toribio and the other elders of the clan decided that his daughter and her husband had to look for shelter with distant relatives in Chile. It was autumn and we went all the way on mule backs. Apart from Pedro and Sayen -who had recently delivered- only Toribio and I went with them, and of course the dog accompanied us. It was a very hard trip, because the winter was approaching, herders had already led the flocks to the mountain valleys and then they had gone back to their homes so that we did not cross with anyone in our trip. It was clear that if something happened to us along the way there would be no one to ask for help. At the beginning we walked along the senderos de rastrillada which for centuries had used our ancestors the Indians, joining toured valleys and water wells to herd their sheep and horses but we soon left them behind. We got in the Valdivian jungle first and then we went deep into the mountains. Toribio guided the group because he was the only one who had walked the path before. We could not advance much because of Sayen, who got  frequently tired. We were climbing up dangerous cornices, and skirting precipices. In one of them Millañir slipped and fell. We felt desperate, especially Toribio, who had raised him when he was but a puppy. I remember that Pedro descended into the ravine to bury him.”

“ And probably he buried his notepads there together  with the animal.” Ventured Debbie.

“Tell me José.” Asked Lautaro. “ Do you think that you could find the place where my father buried the dog?”

“So many years have passed!” Replied José.”I have never returned to those places. Perhaps we could try it, but it is a long and perilous journey. It took us four days to reach the village of the relatives in Chile. All the way up there we traveled on the back of a mule. It is impossible to get there on a car even for your 4WD truck.

After a long discussion, they decided that the four of them would try crossing. Debbie´s  participation was rejected by three men at the beginning, especially by Lautaro, who only saw her as a weak link who would expose them to unnecessary dangers and would cause delays. However finally he had to yield due to the irreducibility of the young woman.

They would go in Lautaro´s vehicle departing from  Esquel, through Leleque to Epuyén; they would then head due West, passing between Cholila Mountain at the South and the Lago Puelo National Park at the North . Thereafter they should leave the vehicle because  roads were impassable even for it,  and then rent or buy a train of mules and go directly to the border with Chile, distant a few tens of kilometers.