No Defense, Volume 1.

The narrative follows Dyck Calhoun, a wayward but honorable young man whose gambling and associations with the dissipated Erris Boyne lead to a fatal quarrel and Boyne's death. Calhoun endures imprisonment and family estrangement while letters and domestic ties, notably with a woman named Sheila and a troubled wife named Noreen, shape his fate. After release he confronts political unrest that culminates in a mutiny, a voyage to the West Indies, and interventions by naval and civic authorities. The plot moves through duels, legal peril, shifting loyalties, and contested identities, exploring themes of honor, passion, and the consequences of personal and public violence.