place
of safety where the writer would meet him. 'It will be necessary,' he
added, 'for you to be in disguise. I cannot be more explicit at
present. Meet me if possible. You may rest assured that if there is no
danger in passing your lines, you will be perfectly safe where I
propose a meeting.'

"Arnold also wrote to Major Tallmadge, at North Castle, instructing
him that if a person named John Anderson should arrive at his station,
to send him on without delay to headquarters under the escort of two
dragoons.

"The house in which Arnold was living at that time had been the
property of Colonel Robinson, but was confiscated because he had
become a Tory. The two had been corresponding for some time under the
pretence that Robinson was trying to recover the property through
Arnold. Sir Henry Clinton had sent Robinson up the river on board the
_Vulture_ with orders to proceed as high as Teller's Point. It is
probable that Robinson knew all about Arnold's treasonable plans and
purposes. He now wrote a letter to General Putnam asking for an
interview with him on the subject of his property, and, pretending
that he did not know where Putnam was, he enclosed his letter to him
in one addressed to Arnold, requesting him to hand the enclosed to
Putnam, or, if that officer had gone away, to return it by the bearer,
adding 'In case General Putnam should be absent, I am persuaded, from
the humane and generous character you bear, that you will grant me
the favor asked.'

"The _Vulture_ was then lying six miles below Verplanck's Point, and
the letters were sent to the Point under a flag of truce. Arnold went
down to that point some hours before Washington was to arrive there on
his way to Hartford, and received and read Colonel Robinson's letter.
Arnold took Washington and his suite across the river in his barge and
accompanied them to Peekskill. He laid Robinson's letter before
Washington and asked his advice. Washington replied that the civil
authority alone could act in the matter, and he did not approve of a
personal interview with Robinson. Arnold's frankness in all this
effectually prevented any suspicion of his integrity as commandant of
West Point.

"After receiving Washington's opinion in regard to the matter Arnold
dared not meet Robinson; but he wrote to him, and in that letter told
him that on the night of the 20th he should send a person on board of
the _Vulture_ who would be furnished with a boat and a flag of truce