It appears that General Greene had established a regular communication for obtaining intelligence from the city by spies ; and his correspondents in that place were at loss whether the expedition was intended for Rhode Island or Virginia. To one or other of these places the enemy had been careful to throw out hints, or exhibit appearances, that the expedition was directed.

Yet Green was not deceived; for in a letter on the 21st (just two days before the discovery of the plot) to General Washington, he writes,

' Colonel communicated the last intelligence we have from

New York ; since that, I have not been able to obtain the least information of what is going on there. Though we have people in from three different quarters, none of them returning, makes me suspect some secret expedition is in contemplation, the success of which depends altogether upon its being kept a secret."

The British commander had now become sensible that no time was to be lost; as, most probably, on the return of Washington from Hartford, he would assume the command in person at West Point, or confide it to Greene. The present, therefore, was the most favorable time that would ever present itself. a

Andre' was, accordingly, dispatched in the Vulttire, sloop of war, to hold a personal conference with General Arnold. The Vulture ascended the Hudson river on the 20th, as far as Teller's Point, and came to anchor at the mouth of the Haverstraw bay. Here Andr£ eagerly awaited some opportunity to acquaint Arnold with his arrival. An occasion for so doing presented itself the next day. A white flag was displayed at a See Barnuni's Spy Unmasked.