work. They had not finished their conference when Smith
returned to give warning that dawn approached and it would be
dangerous for them to linger longer. Smith's house was four miles
away. Arnold proposed that they should go there to finish their talk,
offering Andre a horse which he called his servant's, though it is
altogether probable it had been brought there for this purpose. Andre
reluctantly complied with the request. He did not know that he was
within the American lines until he heard the voice of a sentinel near
the village of Haverstraw. His uniform was concealed by a long blue
surtout, but he knew that he was in real danger because he was within
the enemy's lines without a flag or pass. At dawn they reached Smith's
house, and at the same moment heard the sound of a cannonade on the
river. It was in the direction of the _Vulture_."

"Fired by the Americans, papa, or by the British?" asked Elsie.

"The Americans," replied her father. "It was an attack upon the
British ship _Vulture_. Colonel Livingston had heard that she lay so
near the shore as to be within cannon shot and had conceived the idea
of destroying her, and during the night had sent a party with cannon
from Verplanck's Point; and at dawn, from Teller's Point, they opened
fire upon the _Vulture_; so severe a one that the vessel's crew raised
her anchor and moved down the river.

"Colonel Livingston had asked Arnold for two pieces of heavy cannon
for the purpose of destroying the _Vulture_, but on some slight
pretence Arnold refused, and Livingston's detachment could bring only
one four-pounder to bear upon her.

"Colonel Lamb of West Point furnished the ammunition--but grudgingly,
saying that firing at a ship with a four-pounder was, in his opinion,
a waste of powder. As Lossing remarks, he little thought what an
important bearing that cannonade was to have upon the destinies of
America. It drove the _Vulture_ from her moorings, and was one of the
causes of the fatal detention of Andre at Smith's house. The _Vulture_
was so seriously damaged that had she not got off with the flood tide
she would have had to surrender to the Americans. Andre was anxious
and troubled at sight of her retreat, but when the firing ceased his
spirits revived. He and Arnold went on arranging their plot, and
settled upon the day when it should be consummated.

"Andre was to go back to New York; the British vessels, carrying
troops, were to be ready to come up the river