Calling in Generals Knox and Lafayette, Washington explained what had occurred, showing the proofs of the treachery, and, pathetically appealing to them, he exclaimed, "Whom can we trust now?" Standing on a mine which might explode at any instant, he was outwardly as calm as ever; he even sought Mrs. Arnold, and kindly attempted to soothe her frenzied excitement which found vent in alternate wailings and reproaches that would have pierced insensibility itself. Although Washington seemed unchanged, he was fully alive to his danger. He rapidly wrote his commands, and hastily dispatched couriers in every direction to arouse the camps, till at length, having done all in his power to avert the threatened evil, he retired to rest late at night, fully expecting to be aroused before daylight by the roar of British artillery. We now know the happy result, and that, under the providence of God, much of it was due to the promptitude and foresight of Washington. We now see the momentous consequences which would have followed the consummation of Arnold's baseness; how, and by what a singular change of events, Washington's visit was delayed, and Arnold's escape effected, while even now, we recoil as we learn how a single expression dropped by Andre, prevented the springing of a mine which would have inevitably insured a failure to achieve our independence, and have left us colonial dependents upon the British Government. Andre was conveyed to the Robinson House, and thence to West Point, from which place he was removed to the village of Tappan, opposite Irvington, on the Hudson River Railroad, where a Board of General Officers, presided over by Major General Greene, was assembled to inquire into the facts of his case, and report their opinion. The Board found him acting in the character of a spy, and were of the opinion that, agreeably to the laws and usages of war, he ought to suffer death. In spite of every possible exertion of Sir Henry Clinton, the universal sympathy of the American officers, and the grief of Washington, whose heart was wrung with anguish when he gave the death-warrant, Andre was executed at Tappan, on the 2d of October, 1780, and died, in truth, "lamented even by his foes." The miserable and unhappy career of Arnold need not be pursued. Rewarded by the British Government with a Brigadier-General's commission and a grant of L10,000, he died in London in 1801.[B] [Illustration: CONSTITUTION ISLAND] To the visitor at West Point, the objective spot of the stirring scenes described, each wooded height and rocky bluff recalls the times when our fathers, regardless of personal hardship, suffering and death, labored to secure the priceless boon of freedom. "There's not a verdant blade, nor mountain hoary, But treasures up the memories of freedom's story."