 On the fourth day he is raging on the summit of his pillar, when there arrives an old man, a hermit, who has heard of the cause of his affliction, of his generous nature and lofty aspirations.The kind elderly man frees him from his chain and conveys him to a small bark below, while entirely insensible to what is passing around him.Laon learns later that the old man's eloquence has subdued his keepers, who have consented, at their own peril, to his escape.