And making his way out of the hole as he had entered it, he slipped down the elephant’s leg with the agility of a monkey, landed on his feet in the grass, grasped the child of five round the body, and planted him fairly in the middle of the ladder, then he began to climb up behind him, shouting to the elder:⁠—

“I’m going to boost him, do you tug.”

And in another instant, the small lad was pushed, dragged, pulled, thrust, stuffed into the hole, before he had time to recover himself, and Gavroche, entering behind him, and repulsing the ladder with a kick which sent it flat on the grass, began to clap his hands and to cry:⁠—

“Here we are! Long live General Lafayette!”

This explosion over, he added:⁠—

“Now, young ’uns, you are in my house.”

Gavroche was at home, in fact.