As we rode, M- the civiliser of Montserrat and I side by side, talking of Cuba, and staring at the Noranteas overhead, a dull sound was heard, as if the earth had opened; as indeed it had, engulfing in the mud the whole forehand of M-'s mule; and there he knelt, his beard outspread upon the clay, while the mule's visage looked patiently out from under his left arm.