MALTA AND SICILY. 
277 
My carpet-bag which contained between two 
and three hundred dollars, had evidently 
been forced open far enough to admit of the 
introduction of a hand, and a considerable 
amount had been abstracted. I do not 
know how other travellers would have acted in 
such a case, but after a consultation on the 
subject, we determined to bear our loss pa¬ 
tiently, and quietly. For had we taken the 
proper steps for bringing the robbers to justice, 
it might have occasioned a long delay in our 
voyage, and it was very doubtful whether we 
should have obtained redress, as we could not 
state the exact sum we had lost, for we had 
not kept a very correct account of our money 
or expenditure, since we left Malta. Even 
if we had recovered our loss, it would not 
have been very agreeable nor prudent to 
have continued our voyage in company with 
a dozen enraged Sicilians. However, we 
