Elfreda introduced herself.
"Glad to meet ye. Yer quite set up, but I guess ye might come down a peg after ye git acquainted."
Nora Wingate and Anne Nesbit then introduced themselves, and Joe was "glad to meet" them, but she forgot to address personal remarks to them, for her eyes, glaring through the big spectacles, were fixed on Hippy Wingate's grinning face. All this was "a powerful good joke to him," as Emma confided to Grace in a loud whisper.
Joe strode over to Hippy and peered down into his face as he sat playing with Hindenburg.
"I reckon some of yer ancestors must been monkeys, judgin' from that monkey-grin on yer face. What's yer name?"
Hippy told her, adding that he had been a flying ace in the world war, which announcement he made pompously.
"Glad to meet ye, Lieutenant; but look smart that ye don't try any of yer flytricks on Joe Shafto. Six o'clock, folks. Remember!" was Joe's parting word as she strode swiftly from their camp, screwing up her face into a long-drawn wink as she passed Grace Harlowe. In that wink Grace read what she had been searching for. Joe Shafto was human and a humorist, crude, but with a keen mind and a love for banter that promised much enjoyment for the Overland Riders.
"I wonder who is the Henry that she mentioned?" reflected Grace out loud.
"Perhaps Henry may be a tame goose. Think of 'June' and 'July' as names for mules," chortled Hippy. "Oh, we're going to have a merry, merry time this coming two months—especially Hindenburg and myself."
Afternoon tea was an enjoyable occasion that day, at which the principal topic was their new guide.