He did not know. He put all these questions to himself without replying to them. The intestines of Paris form a precipice.
Like the prophet, he was in the belly of the monster.
All at once, he had a surprise.
At the most unforeseen moment, and without having ceased to walk in a straight line, he perceived that he was no longer ascending; the water of the rivulet was beating against his heels, instead of meeting him at his toes. The sewer was now descending.
Why?
Was he about to arrive suddenly at the Seine?
This danger was a great one, but the peril of retreating was still greater.
He continued to advance.
It was not towards the Seine that he was proceeding.
The ridge which the soil of Paris forms on its right bank empties one of its water-sheds into the Seine and the other into the Grand Sewer. The crest of this ridge which determines the division of the waters describes a very capricious line.
The culminating point, which is the point of separation of the currents, is in the Sainte-Avoye sewer, beyond the Rue Michelle-Comte, in the sewer of the Louvre, near the boulevards, and in the Montmartre sewer, near the Halles. It was this culminating point that Jean Valjean had reached.
He was directing his course towards the belt sewer; he was on the right path. But he did not know it.