Chapter 13 - The Christmas Cave

Where are we now? We are in Holland.

----------

Gammelnok is lucky to have grabbed his Haversack before he was thrown out of the sleigh.

Fumbling desperately inside as he tumbles towards earth, he finds the parachute his mother has placed there.

With great difficulty and extreme urgency he manages to put it on and inflate it just in time for it to save him crashing to earth and break every bone in his body.

He has no idea where he is apart from the fact he has landed on some grassy hill outside a small town. As the good trooper he is, he buries his flight clothes and the parachute in order to save himself from detection.

It is still the middle of the night and he stumbles about the hill, tripping over grass tufts and tree roots. He decides to rest a while and lowers himself into the soft grass. Soon he is asleep. Soon he rolls over and then plunges through a hole in the ground, landing on the hard floor of a huge cave.

Stunned, he recovers and looks around in amazement. He sees Santa, Helpers and reindeers and even snowmen like the ones from the top of the world. But they do not move. They appear just to sit or stand there, doing nothing.

Talking to them in GammelDansk produces no response. Annoyed and frustrated, Gammelnok starts to explore. He soon gets lost as there are many side caves, some blind, others leading in circles and still others leading down or up.

Looking up, he sees several long tunnels leading to a sky covered in bright stars. He realizes these are ventilation shafts and that he must have fallen down one from the grassy hills above. There is no way he can get to the roof of the cavern and climb through to the outside world. He must look for an alternative exit.

Gammelnok continues to investigate, but soon gets tired. He finds an alcove not overlooked by dead Santas or dead reindeers.

A loud noise of metal grinding against metal makes him sit up, groggily looking around. Suddenly he spots humans walking around the cave, lighting lanterns, sweeping floors, straightening things on tables, talking in what to him sounds like DoubleDutch and not GammelDansk. He can not make head or tail of the gabble.

So as not to be discovered, he crawls further into his alcove and digs out his Chameleon Cloth from his Haversack. Now blending in with his background, he tries to work out where the people are coming from, thinking he can get to their entrance which will then be his exit.

More people arrive, all in festive holiday mood. The cave is becoming crowded and there is no way Gammelnok can move about without being trampled upon. He decides to wait until they are leaving the cave and then sneak out with them.