Nathaniel had his reasons for making his journey to Rhyolite. Rhyolite was the greatest boom town in the west, with a population of ten thousand and growing fast. Nathaniel hoped to find what had been taken from him-taken by the snallygaster, that old legend from the back hills of Maryland. Snallygaster was that four legged flying snake that would snatch away whatever you most valued when you turned your back. It took away Annabelle, the love of his life. At least, that was the way he felt. Now he was here in Rhyolite, to make his fortune, to find Annabelle-and to look up the man he had murdered back in Baltimore.