But the sense of the meeting was for a dumb show; Mr. Huggins had his way and became self-conscious and nervous from that moment. Like greater men, he won his ambition and lost his peace of mind for evermore.
Sir Francis Drake, who brought water from Dartmoor to Plymouth, was suggested by the postmaster and agreed upon with enthusiasm; then Mr. Churchward proposed a Druid and Mr. Spry seconded, but Norseman protested.
"No heathen—no heathen!" he said. "'Twould be a reproach and make us a byword. Let's have St. Petrock—him that our church be named after. He might travel side by side of Moses, and keep the show well within Christianity."
"St. Petrock is good," declared Adam Churchward. "St. Petrock is a thought worthy of you, Norseman. Spry and I will consult our books about him. I second that, certainly."
The drink was done, and Mr. Pearn, aware that his part in the debate had sunk to nothing, advanced an idea.
"Why for shouldn't us have a lady hero? How would it be, Mr. Chairman, if Jezebel, Queen of Sheba, went among 'em?"
"Jezebel wasn't Queen of Sheba," answered several voices simultaneously.
"Not?" exclaimed the publican. "There now! If I didn't always think she was."
"You should read your Bible better, Noah Pearn," said Mr. Norseman; "and I object to women displaying themselves in the show at all."
"Churchwarden's right: don't have no women," advised John Prout. "They'm not fitted in their intellects to stand the strain of a public procession without getting too overbearing. They'm better kept under, in my opinion. You might lift up some comely maiden and turn her head for all time by it."