The Count of Monte Cristo

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"Oh, they are simple enough," replied the host. "It seems the fellow
had been caught wandering nearer to the harem of the Bey of Tunis than
etiquette permits to one of his color, and he was condemned by the bey
to have his tongue cut out, and his hand and head cut off; the tongue
the first day, the hand the second, and the head the third. I always had
a desire to have a mute in my service, so learning the day his tongue
was cut out, I went to the bey, and proposed to give him for Ali a
splendid double-barreled gun which I knew he was very desirous of
having. He hesitated a moment, he was so very desirous to complete the
poor devil's punishment. But when I added to the gun an English cutlass
with which I had shivered his highness's yataghan to pieces, the bey
yielded, and agreed to forgive the hand and head, but on condition that
the poor fellow never again set foot in Tunis. This was a useless clause
in the bargain, for whenever the coward sees the first glimpse of the
shores of Africa, he runs down below, and can only be induced to appear
again when we are out of sight of that quarter of the globe."