Index: src/main/src/org/compass/core/CompassQuery.java
===================================================================
--- src/main/src/org/compass/core/CompassQuery.java	(revision 3896)
+++ src/main/src/org/compass/core/CompassQuery.java	(working copy)
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@
 
 import java.util.Locale;
 
+import org.apache.lucene.search.HitCollector;
+
 /**
  * An object representing a Compass query. The query is created using the
  * {@link org.compass.core.CompassQueryBuilder}, and used to get the
@@ -356,6 +358,11 @@
     long count(float minimumScore);
 
     /**
+     * Collect hits using a Lucene {@link HitCollector}. 
+     */
+    void collect(HitCollector hitCollector);
+    
+    /**
      * Clones the given query.
      */
     Object clone() throws CloneNotSupportedException;
Index: src/main/src/org/compass/core/engine/SearchEngineQuery.java
===================================================================
--- src/main/src/org/compass/core/engine/SearchEngineQuery.java	(revision 3896)
+++ src/main/src/org/compass/core/engine/SearchEngineQuery.java	(working copy)
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 
 import java.util.Locale;
 
+import org.apache.lucene.search.HitCollector;
 import org.compass.core.CompassQuery.SortDirection;
 import org.compass.core.CompassQuery.SortImplicitType;
 import org.compass.core.CompassQuery.SortPropertyType;
@@ -65,5 +66,7 @@
 
     long count(SearchEngine searchEngine, float minimumScore);
 
+    void collect(SearchEngine searchEngine, HitCollector hitCollector);
+    
     Object clone() throws CloneNotSupportedException;
 }
Index: src/main/src/org/compass/core/impl/DefaultCompassQuery.java
===================================================================
--- src/main/src/org/compass/core/impl/DefaultCompassQuery.java	(revision 3896)
+++ src/main/src/org/compass/core/impl/DefaultCompassQuery.java	(working copy)
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 
 import java.util.Locale;
 
+import org.apache.lucene.search.HitCollector;
 import org.compass.core.CompassException;
 import org.compass.core.CompassHits;
 import org.compass.core.CompassQuery;
@@ -194,6 +195,10 @@
         return searchEngineQuery.count(session().getSearchEngine(), minimumScore);
     }
 
+    public void collect(HitCollector hitCollector) {
+        searchEngineQuery.collect(session().getSearchEngine(), hitCollector);
+    }
+
     public CompassHits hits() throws CompassException {
         InternalCompassSession session = session();
         SearchEngineHits searchEngineHits = searchEngineQuery.hits(session.getSearchEngine());
Index: src/main/src/org/compass/core/lucene/engine/LuceneSearchEngineQuery.java
===================================================================
--- src/main/src/org/compass/core/lucene/engine/LuceneSearchEngineQuery.java	(revision 3896)
+++ src/main/src/org/compass/core/lucene/engine/LuceneSearchEngineQuery.java	(working copy)
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 import org.apache.lucene.search.BooleanClause;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.BooleanQuery;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.Filter;
+import org.apache.lucene.search.HitCollector;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.Query;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.Sort;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.SortField;
@@ -193,20 +194,29 @@
     }
 
     public long count(SearchEngine searchEngine, float minimumScore) {
-        LuceneSearchEngineInternalSearch internalSearch = (LuceneSearchEngineInternalSearch) searchEngine.internalSearch(getSubIndexes(), getAliases());
         CountHitCollector countHitCollector = new CountHitCollector(minimumScore);
         try {
+            collect(searchEngine, countHitCollector);
+            return countHitCollector.getTotalHits();
+        } catch (SearchEngineException e) {
+            throw new SearchEngineException("Failed to count query [" + query + "]", e);
+        }
+
+    }
+
+    public void collect(SearchEngine searchEngine, HitCollector hitCollector) {
+        LuceneSearchEngineInternalSearch internalSearch = (LuceneSearchEngineInternalSearch) searchEngine.internalSearch(getSubIndexes(), getAliases());
+        try {
             if (internalSearch.getSearcher() == null) {
-                // no index, return 0
-                return 0;
+                // no index
+                return;
             }
-            internalSearch.getSearcher().search(getQuery(), getLuceneFilter(), countHitCollector);
+            internalSearch.getSearcher().search(getQuery(), getLuceneFilter(), hitCollector);
         } catch (IOException e) {
-            throw new SearchEngineException("Failed to count query [" + query + "]", e);
+            throw new SearchEngineException("Failed to collect hits for query [" + query + "]", e);
         }
-        return countHitCollector.getTotalHits();
     }
-
+    
     public SearchEngineQuery setBoost(float boost) {
         query.setBoost(boost);
         return this;