Faldage,

The little voice out of the horn on AHD online pronounced it:

HAY-mate.

No joke. And MW online showed HAY-mate, too, although not spelled the way I'm spelling it here. Same sound, however.

But I detected a little hesitancy in the little man-in-the-horn's voice on AHD and suspect he may have originally hung around with your group and felt awkward in having to leave his ham behind.

Bone regards,
WW