Elias stared into Ibarra's eyes for some seconds before he replied, "When human courts try to clear up this mystery, I beg of you not to speak to any one of the warning that I gave you in the church." "Don't worry," answered the youth in a rather disgusted tone. "I know that you're wanted, but I'm no informer." "Oh, it's not on my account, not on my account!" exclaimed Elias with some vigor and haughtiness. "It's on your own account. I fear nothing from men." Ibarra's surprise increased. The tone in which this rustics--formerly a pilot--spoke was new and did not seem to harmonize with either his condition or his fortune. "What do you mean?" he asked, interrogating that mysterious individual with his looks. "I do not talk in enigmas but try to express myself clearly; for your greater security, it is better that your enemies think you unsuspecting and unprepared." Ibarra recoiled. "My enemies? Have I enemies?" "All of us have them, sir, from the smallest insect up to man, from the poorest and humblest to the richest and most powerful! Enmity is the law of life!" Ibarra gazed at him in silence for a while, then murmured, "You are neither a pilot nor a rustic!" "You have enemies in high and low places," continued Elias, without heeding the young man's words. "You are planning a great undertaking, you have a past. Your father and your grandfather had enemies because they had passions, and in life it is not the criminal who provokes the most hate but the honest man." "Do you know who my enemies are?" Elias meditated for a moment. "I knew one--him who is dead," he finally answered. "Last night I learned that a plot against you was being hatched, from some words exchanged with an unknown person who lost himself in the crowd. 'The fish will not eat him, as they did his father; you'll see tomorrow,' the unknown said. These words caught my attention not only by their meaning but also on account of the person who uttered them, for he had some days before presented himself to the foreman on the work with the express request that he be allowed to superintend the placing of the stone. He didn't ask for much pay but made a show of great knowledge. I hadn't sufficient reason for believing in his bad intentions, but something within told me that my conjectures were true and therefore I chose as the suitable occasion to warn you a moment when you could not ask me any questions. The rest you have seen for yourself." For a long time after Elias had become silent Ibarra remained thoughtful, not answering him or saying a word. "I'm sorry that that man is dead!" he exclaimed at length. "From him something more might have been learned." "If he had lived, he would have escaped from the trembling hand of blind human justice. God has judged him, God has killed him, let God be the only Judge!"