On board the Vulture was the British officer who was treating with Arnold and who now came to arrange terms with him, Major John Andre, Clinton's young adjutant general, a man of attractive personality.

Under cover of night Arnold sent off a boat to bring Andre ashore to a remote thicket of fir trees, outside the American lines.
There the final plans were made.

The British fleet, carrying an army, was to sail up the river.

A heavy chain had been placed across the river at West Point to bar the way of hostile ships.

Under pretense of repairs a link was to be taken out and replaced by a rope which would break easily.