private String readNChars( int n ) 
	throws IOException {

	if( n <= 0 )
	    return "";

	char[] buf = new char[n];
	int i = 0;
	for( ; this.readChar() && i < n; i++ ) {	    
	    buf[i] = this.currentChar;
	}
	
	return new String( buf, 0, i );
    }