Major Andri and General Arnold. 287 



from the guns of the fort, but they are such miserable pop-guns that 

 one of them would not carry half-way to her." 



" Paltry affairs, indeed, Colonel." 



" Well, Sir, I instantly sent an express to General Arnold, to West 

 Point, requesting one or two heavy pieces of cannon, with which, Sir, 

 I would have made smash of yonder saucy English sloop in ten 

 minutes; and what, Sir, do you imagine was his reply?" 



"I cannot imagine. 



" Sir, he tells me to attend to my duty the defence of the fort 

 and that he does not deem it expedient to send me the guns I re- 

 quired to attend to my duty those were the words, Captain." Well, 



well, 'tis my duty to obey. D n it, I can't look upon those colours, 



they seem shaking them in our very teeth in defiance ; the rascals, 

 if I had my will I'd soon give them another game to play." 



Thus saying, the indignant old colonel strode away to vent his 

 chagrin where his eyes would not be offended with the sight of the 

 hated object, while the other spectators indulged in various opinions 

 on the designs of the English vessel that still lay aground in the 

 river, without making any attempts at communicating with the shore, 

 or showing any hostile disposition. 



Thus far fortune seemed to have favoured the conspirators; the 

 extreme caution of Arnold, who had hitherto confided his secret only 

 to two persons, who were as deeply interested in the success of his 

 plots as he could be himself, had nearly brought them to a prosper- 

 ous termination. But at this juncture the fiend deserted him, and 

 the first check he received in his villanous schemes was the unex- 

 pected delay of Washington, who did not leave West Point for three 

 days after the time Arnold imagined he had fixed for his departure. 

 The presence of the commander-in-chief was therefore a serious 

 obstacle to the secret manoeuvres of Arnold, who was afraid to hold 

 any communication with the sloop until relieved of Washington's 

 keen observance. Meantime, Andre and Robinson, not receiving 

 any message from Arnold, began to grow uneasy, traitors are ob- 

 noxious to suspicion by the very persons who benefit by their 

 treachery, and to fear from the unprincipled character of their 

 accomplice that they had been betrayed into a snare. To ascertain 

 the truth or injustice of their surmises, they put in execution a stra- 

 tagem arranged beforehand with Arnold, to facilitate a rendezvous. 

 Robinson sent under a flag of truce a letter to the American general 

 Putman, on business relating to his property, and proposed an inter- 

 view. In this letter was enclosed one to Arnold, soliciting a confer- 

 ence with him in case Putman should be absent, and as both were 

 put under a cover directed to Arnold, the packet would be opened 

 by him ; but in case it should fall into other hands, the whole could be 

 read without exciting any suspicion, it was on the very morning 

 that Washington had fixed for his departure that Arnold received 

 this letter. He had just reached the water's edge, where a large 

 barge was waiting in which he was to convey the commander to the 

 opposite bank of the river, when the packet was put into his hands, 

 and he had scarcely time to ascertain its contents when Washington 

 made his appearance, attended by a few officers of his staff. He 



