Four or five miles below Verplanck's Point can be distinctly seen Smith's house, where the interview took place between Andre and Arnold, and where the latter gave the spy the fatal papers that proved his ruin.

In describing the scenery of this beautiful spot, Mr. N. P. Willis remarks : *' It is not easy to pass and repass the now peaceful and beautiful waters of this part of the Hudson, without recalling to mind the scenes and actors in the great drama of the Revolution, which they not long ago bore on their bosom. The busy

Heath's Mem. 221. b Heath's Mem. 216.

COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER. . \ 99

mind fancies the armed gun boats slowly pulling along the shore, and the light pinnace of the Vulture flying to and fro on its errands of conspiracy, and not the least vivid picture to the imagination is the boat containing the accomplished, the gallant Andre and his guard, on iiis way to death. It is probable that he first admitted to his own mind the possibility of a fatal result while passing this very spot. A late biographer of Arnold gives the particulars of a conversation between Andre and Major Tallmadge, the officer who had him in custody, and who brought him from West Point down the river to Tappan, the place of his subsequent execution : ' Before we reached tlie Clove, (a landing just below Yerplanck's Point,) Major Andre became very inquisitive to know my opinion as to the result of his capture. When I could no longer evade his importunity, I remarked to him as follows : I had a much loved class mate in Yale College by the name of Hale, who entered the army in 1775. Immediately after the battle of Long Island, Washington wanted information respecting the strength of the army; he v/ent over to Brooklyn, and was taken just as he was passing the out-posts of the enemy, on his return.