The Valley of Fear

In Part II, Chapter II, Shafter calls McMurdo aside and asks if he has designs on Ettie. The young man admits he loves her, but Shafter says she is already spoken for by Teddy Baldwin, a boss of the Scowrers. McMurdo has heard this name before, but wonders why everyone is afraid. Shafter says they are the Eminent Order of the Freedmen. McMurdo is shocked and says he is a member of that. Shafter recoils and says he would not have allowed McMurdo to board there if he had known that, and says that the Scowrers are a murder society. McMurdo is frustrated; he demands an apology and proof of the Scowrers' bad deeds. Shafter warns him that if he stays here long enough he will get his proof; he tells him he must find other lodgings and leave Ettie alone.