198 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT 



tion was made on behalf of the South Pool by Mr. 

 Augustus Kingston of Totnes, a well-known member 

 of both hunts. 



CoUings was then about thirty-five years of age. In 

 the hunting field he was reserved in manner, short 

 and even brusque with strangers or those he did not 

 know well. He made up his mind what to do, and 

 did it, regardless of information that he could not 

 trust and advice that he did not want. In this way 

 he gradually ceased to be troubled with the well- 

 intentioned " assistance " of members of the field. 

 Often have I heard the remark from farmers and 

 others : " What a man he is, to be sure ! " when 

 Collings, receiving a communication in silence, pro- 

 ceeded to act as if it had not been made. But these 

 very people learnt to appreciate the determination 

 that characterized the man and his reliance upon his 

 hounds and upon his own judgment. His whole 

 heart was in the sport, and his mind, concentrated 

 on the work in hand, would not brook distraction. 

 A few, a very few, whose knowledge of hunting and 

 of individual hounds he could rely upon, would be 

 listened to ; even then, if he had a move in his own 

 mind, he would often make it before acting on the 

 information received. 



But when off duty, or when once well away with his 

 fox, he would be as cheery as a schoolboy. He had a 

 dry humour of his own and a keen appreciation of 

 humour in others. Once, he took us off to a holloa 

 on the top of a distant hill, where we found a small 

 boy in a newly-sown field. To the two questions : 

 " Did you holloa ? " and " Have you seen the fox ? " 

 came in succession the answers : " Yes," and " No." 

 Collings said not another word, but turned back in 

 the face of the grinning field, and his sense of 



