This was a bold, but foolish and incautious speech, destined to be disastrous.
The pasha, goaded to madness by Jack's words and defiant manner, drew his pistol and discharged it pointblank at our hero.
The action was a rapid one—so rapid as to take Jack unawares, but not so rapid as the love-quickened perceptions of Thyra.
She saw the pasha's movement, and throwing herself forward, seized Jack just in time to draw him aside.
By so doing, she saved his life, but at the expense of her own.
The bullet lodged in her breast, and with a cry she fell wounded into Jack's arms.
The disaster had come so quickly that our hero scarcely comprehended what had happened.
The pasha frowned darkly when he saw Thyra fall.
Some remorse was awakened, even in his iron heart.
He had intended to take a life, but not hers, and now indeed the Pearl of the Isles was lost to him for evermore.