public int loadStripImages(String fnm, int number)
	/*
	 * Can be called directly, to load a strip file, <fnm>, holding <number>
	 * images.
	 */
	{
		String name = getPrefix(fnm);
		if (imagesMap.containsKey(name)) {
			System.out.println("Error: " + name + "already used");
			return 0;
		}
		// load the images into an array
		BufferedImage[] strip = loadStripImageArray(fnm, number);
		if (strip == null)
			return 0;

		ArrayList imsList = new ArrayList();
		int loadCount = 0;
		System.out.print("  Adding " + name + "/" + fnm + "... ");
		for (int i = 0; i < strip.length; i++) {
			loadCount++;
			imsList.add(strip[i]);
			System.out.print(i + " ");
		}
		System.out.println();

		if (loadCount == 0)
			System.out.println("No images loaded for " + name);
		else
			imagesMap.put(name, imsList);

		return loadCount;
	} // end of loadStripImages()