"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.