At first Andre had supposed that Arnold would
meet him on the _Vulture_, and that all their negotiations
would be completed there. But Arnold, too
crafty to run any personal risk, or arouse any
suspicion in his own officers, insisted upon Andre's
landing and conferring with him at some little
distance from his own headquarters. Disregarding,
through Arnold's persuasions, Clinton's first
order to remain upon the _Vulture_, Andre's other
failures in obedience appear to have been inevitable,
and taking the risks as they came, he went
forward to his doom, to his death, to Arnold's ruin
as an American citizen, and to the preservation of
the infant republic.

For the third time, Providence appears to have
thwarted the shrewdest plans of the enemies of
America. First came the fog in New York Bay,
enabling Washington to withdraw his troops from
Brooklyn without the knowledge of the British;
second, the knowledge of Hale's fate and the preservation
of his last words by a humane English
officer, despite the malice of Provost Marshal Cunningham;
third, and apparently most important
of all, the capture of Andr6, involving the defeat
of Arnold's traitorous plans to ruin his country's
cause.

From the moment Andre fell into the hands of

[[155]]

p154 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p155w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p156

v?