6.9: Is this some sort of attack?

Back at the den, later that afternoon, the youngsters are mulling over what they witnessed. 

“Do you think that the snail was trying to steal or destroy one of our insignia of the Sponge? Do you think he is some sort of enemy? Perhaps an agent of the bulb spiders?” (A hostile encroachment of bulb spiders had been ‘removed’ by the wild hunt of the Order of the Sponge, the previous summer.) 

“Well it is a bit like the mish-mash of cock-up and / or conspiracy,” suggests pTravis. “We do not know that Fabian knew what he was stealing. And in truth, after all the hurly-burly of the chase, he seemed to think that it was just a game. I felt he wanted to be chased at speed across the parkland. And yet, I do not trust him at all!” 

“But what about that other badge?” asks Masongill. “It seems somehow significant. A folded surface drawn in three dimensions, with an X, Y and Z axis. I’m not sure what it could mean but it seems somehow as pregnant with meaning as our own sponges. If he was attacking our way, we should respond.” 

Suddenly, in a manner that always goes unnoticed in the Lord of the Rings but nowhere else, Masongill starts to sing:

“You got to fight for what you want,
For all that you believe.
It’s right to fight for what we want,
to live the way we please.

As long as we have done our best,
then no-one can do more,
and life and love and happiness
are well worth fighting for.

And we should never count the cost,
or worry that we’ll fall.
It’s better to have fought and lost
than not have fought at all.

Let’s always take whatever comes
and never try to hide.
Face anything and anyone
together, side by side.” 

Perhaps fearing that this might continue for some time, pTravis interjects: “Never mind that now!” 

But Lottie pipes up, still tapping the rhythm with one of her large feet: “I think we need to watch that snail like hawks!” 

And pTravis concedes: “I think we need to afford him the customary hospitality of the Potting Shed… and also watch him like hawks!”