The Knight´s Legacy

Ranquil Huao

Pedro returned that day back to his cabin in the hill. The nearly fourteen months since his arrival to the Ranquil Huao reservation had caused profound transformations in his life and in the lives of those around him. He had become a useful man for the clan Llanquinao looking after the sheep scattered over the hills and was also a skillful hunter so as to collaborate in the family's diet. His courtship with Sayen had been already accepted long ago by members of the family, and the young woman  had an advanced pregnancy, so that the family was preparing a very discreet civil marriage, given Pedro´s  condition of fugitive. A first problem for this was his lack of all kinds of identity documents . However, this condition was shared by many refugees and immigrants arriving in Argentina's during the post-war, some of whom arrived in those remote regions of the then National Territory -afterwards converted into a province- of Chubut. The members of the clan were confident then to solve the papers problem in one way or another. All of this produced in Horstmann a warm and sweet feeling, that had been hidden and forgotten for a long time and that was similar to the happiness he remembered from his childhood. The sense of permanent danger and precariousness had given place to a certain predictable and reliable order in his life. Pedro did not know it, but this idyllic world was soon to suffer a serious blow.

It was getting dark in that day in the month of April when  days became shorter as autumn progressed; the summits of the hill were covered with a white layer since almost one month before, and occasional snowfalls fell on the hillside where Pedro´s dwelling was. Millañir trotted to his side and since a stretch back Pedro had noticed a change in his attitude. Instead of jogging carefree sniffing traces of animals at the edges of the road, the dog was now concentrating on the path in front of them and its tail was stiff. An hour ago Pedro had heard an automobile engine striving in a curve of a road, but no one had finally appeared. Anyway, part of its old alert attitude reappeared  and this ended resulting providential. Pedro was carrying an old hunting shotgun, which he usually carried in his shoulder; as a precaution he decided however to change its position and carry it over the arm. The cabin was already at sight, but the man preferred not to approach openly, but to deviate from the path and approached stealthily, although he thought that this excess of caution was unnecessary. He placed behind a rock and glimpsed awhile the surroundings of the hut. Nothing moved, so Pedro was already about to get up and walk. Suddenly Millañir came out and ran toward some sparse shrubs growing among a group of rocks. The dog, barking furiously, dived among the plants, and a few human screams were heard followed by a shot and Millañir frightened by the noise of the detonation returned speedily to Pedro´s hideout. A few shadows rose from behind the rocks  and shot their automatic weapons aiming towards the site where Pedro was. There was no doubt that he was discovered. Pedro pointed his shotgun at the target and pressed the trigger. The shotgun was loaded with buckshot cartridges and some of them had probably hit the target as a pain woe was heard. A long firefight continued in the course of which the men tried to surround him, but Pedro was first and foremost a military officer and was very skillful in tactical movements. Although its endowment of cartridges was limited and he had to shoot parsimoniously, he was aware that the passage of time was playing in its favor. The shots were clearly audible, amplified by the acoustics of the valley, and in the reservation his friends would guess what was happening. The ambushed men also knew it, and tried to rush the events, with a profusion of shooting and bullfights. But already dogs barking could be heard from the road, unmistakable signal that aid was approaching. One of the men moved swiftly to a high position from which he could shoot Pedro, which was forced to stick  his stomach on the ground, to obtain the maximum protection possible from the rock. Then a shot detonated behind Pedro´s position. The man on the hillside moaned, opened his arms and rolled down the slope. As they found themselves  at a disadvantage, the rest of the attackers responded with a fierce volley and undertook the withdrawal covering their positions to prevent being surrounded.

After a long time of silence, Pedro raised his head and saw a group of men approaching.

“Pedro, it´s us.”  Horstmann-Martiniuk recognized José´s voice and rose with caution, making sure that his body was numb and sore.

The rescue group was integrated by Toribio, José and five other men of the reservation, armed with a variety of hunting weapons and a few old revolvers, which had however been effective in the gunfight. One of them had fired the man who was on top of the hill, obviously a lucky shot. The man had been lifted and carried by his accomplices, wounded or dead, despite the risk of producing delays that endangered the rest of the group. That detail, together with the orderly withdrawal, convinced Pedro that there was some military training in the attacking group. The men of the reservation made a detailed examination of the cabin surroundings making sure that there were no further immediate hazards, collecting remains left by the ambush, bullets caps and following the traces.

“They came from Chile, and returned in the same direction.” Said one of the men, reputed as the best tracker and hunter of the reservation. “ We are not going to follow them because they have surely left sentinels ambushed in the rearguard.”

The meeting in the modest dwelling of the lonko Salustiano Catripán was already in its third hour; Pedro could not hide his anxiety while Sayen looked calm and resigned, a cultural characteristic of her culture. Toribio finally emerged from the cabin, and approached them.

“You must leave the reservation.” He said bluntly.”Otherwise you will be in permanent danger because your pursuers have already located you and as they are determined men they will  attack again, and also because if you stay you will be putting  at risk to the rest of the village community. Midwives say Sayen´s delivery is imminent. As soon as it takes place and Sayen is capable of walking and riding a mule you will go to Chile, through trails that only the men of my clan know. There, some of our distant relatives will receive you. The newborn child will stay with his grandmother and me, since he could not bear a dangerous journey through the mountains in such cold weather. Jacinta Catripan is going to nurse him or her the time needed. We will baptize him  with the surname Llanquinao. You will choose the first name when he is born and you know his or her s*x.

Sayen and Pedro silently heard this resolution affecting so deeply their lives with their heads down. Sayen felt that a chasm had opened up in her life and she foresaw  it would never fill completely. She was to be separated from her firstborn child with no guarantee of being able to ever see it. However, the woman was used to follow the directives of the council of elders who actually directed the reservation. As for Pedro, on the one hand he owed his life to these people, and on the other he recognized the wisdom of the decisions taken.

Juan Williams watched the reservation from a nearby hill with binoculars; he had been awaiting news a couple of hours. He was already getting impatient when he distinguished in the road that snaked from the hamlet a man who approached him. He soon recognized Antonio Nahaulkir who was returning after making inquiries in the village. He waited until Antonio approached and came out to meet him.

“I talked to my friend in the reservation.” Succinctly reported Antonio “ the information that you received was true. There was a major firefight two days ago, after which the old Toribio with other three people left the reservation with a mule train. One of them was a tall blond foreigner, possibly the man we are looking for. They were heading towards Chile.”

“Good work Antonio, thanks. We will report this. It seems that this Horstmann is a tough nut to c***k; the Nazis are not going to eliminate him so easily, but the truth is that he has also escaped us so far.