Indeed, the moment that the host subsided into his seat — it was large enough for four — he fell asleep, and his portly presence, converting itself into a sort of blacksmith’s bellows, started to vent, through open mouth and distended nostrils, such sounds as can have greeted the reader’s ear but seldom — sounds as of a drum being beaten in combination with the whistling of a flute and the strident howling of a dog.
