l80 WINTER SKETCHES. 



answer. " Sir ! Do you know that Arnold 

 has fled, and that Mr. Anderson, whom you 

 have piloted through our lines, proves to be 

 Maj. John Andre, the Adjutant-General of the 

 British Army, now our prisoner? I expect 

 him here under a guard of one hundred horse, 

 to meet his fate as a spy, and unless you con- 

 fess who were your accomplices, I shall sus- 

 pend you both on yonder tree before the 

 door!" 



Even then, Smith's audacity did not forsake 

 him. He says that he undertook to " argue 

 the question " with Washington, informing 

 him that he was exceeding the limits of his 

 authority, and that he should demand a trial 

 before the civil court, for he was not under his 

 command in the army. " Whereupon," he 

 adds, " the General was irritated and ordered 

 the guards to take me away." It is said that 

 on rare occasions the Father of his Country 

 supplemented his discourse with expletives. 

 If ever they were justifiable, the occasion for 

 them was when this impudent scoundrel was 

 before him. 



