A reminiscence by an old settler, an ex-army officer Colonel Chester, of a fellow settler Major Darkling, his wife and daughter. Deborah Darkling was a wild girl - without a heart - who liked to hunt, to visit the Aborigines camp, and who did not know what love was. Her father gives her a chance between marriage and the lunatic asylum, but she escapes and returns only to carry out her revenge ... (PB)