enough that "the
masther" was at home. Beyond a pretty park, full of well-bred cattle,
lay the "Boycotted" house, tall and grey and grim, in the waning
light. There was no sign of life in it. Under a handsome portico was
the grand entrance, bolted and barred up, with shutters closed. There
was nothing for it but to tug vigorously at the bell. Nobody came to
the door, but around each corner of the house stepped an armed
constable. A moment later a narrow slip of the shutter was moved, and
we became aware first of a fur cap and then of a youthful face, which
ultimately proved to be that of Colonel O'Callaghan's eldest son, home
for the holidays from a great English school, and undergoing the
"hardening" process of spending Christmas in a state of siege.

Presently came a maidservant, neat and trim, and after some wrestling
with bolts the outer door was opened a little way, and our names and
business demanded, after which we entered a great hall, apparently
used as a refectory. Huge logs blazed on the hearth, and the room
looked comfortable enough. We were next ushered into the drawing-room
of Colonel O'Callaghan, who had just come in from herding his cattle
and sheep, and was still girt with a brace of full-sized revolvers.

No whit dismayed by the attack made on him at Tulla, and holding his
foes in very slight estimation, Colonel O'Callaghan is yet subjected
to inconvenience and oppression of an extraordinary kind. The
proximate cause of his being "Boycotted" was his action is serving
four processes himself, because neither love nor money nor threats
would induce a process-server to do his work. The country folk know
quite well the difference between Land League law and the phantom
which remains of the law of the land. The former is instantly
enforced, the latter cannot be carried into effect at all, a fact
which is telling upon its officers with discouraging effect.

Finding his writs could be served by nobody but himself, Colonel
O'Callaghan started early one morning, attended by his escort, served
the four writs himself, and then prepared to hold his own. Pigs were
killed, barrels of flour and other stores were brought in, and the
house provisioned to stand a siege. Recollection of old days in the
Crimea, when Colonel O'Callaghan was in the 62nd Regiment, were
revived under the provisioning process, which was by no means complete
when he was formally "Boycotted," and left with 300 cattle and sheep
upon his hands,