The mother goes by, all absorbed in her child.

To her it is the only child in the world.
Alternated with these scenes is the terrible rush of the Assyrian army, on to exploration, battle, and glory.

The speed of their setting out becomes actual, because it is contrasted with the deliberation of the Jewish town.

At length the Assyrians are along those hills and valleys and below the wall of defence.

The population is on top of the battlements, beating them back the more desperately because they are separated from the water-supply, the wells in the fields where once the lovers met.