With a providential nail, Brujon has that night managed to make a hole in a chimney, and with Gueulemer he has climbed to the roof. Then they lower themselves with a rope they have brought along. A few minutes later, they join Montparnasse and Babet, who has escaped some time before.
Now it is Thénardier's turn. He drugs his guard with doped wine and with a metal pin breaks his chains. But he is not out of danger yet. His friends have left him a piece of rope too short to reach the ground, and he must seek a different avenue of escape. With the mysterious instinct of despair, he finds his way to the roof of a building outside the prison walls. But his prodigious effort is futile: he is too weak and the ground is too far below for him to climb down the facade of the building. Suddenly he notices his confederates below debating whether or not they should give him up and leave. Afraid to speak, he signals by throwing them his hitherto useless piece of rope.
At the instigation of the others, Gavroche, carelessly courageous, climbs a rickety pipe to the roof and carries his father another, longer rope. No sooner has Thénardier reached freedom than he and the rest of the gang begin to discuss a subject that had earlier been debated in prison: a possible coup against Valjean, Rue Plumet. Then they disband, and as Thénardier departs Babet says to him, "Did you notice the boy who brought you the rope? I think he was your son." "Bah," says Thénardier, "do you think so?" and the subject is forgotten.
