MediaTracker

void loadImages() {
    // Create a MediaTracker
    MediaTracker tracker = new MediaTracker(this);     
    // Declare variables for the URLs
    URL appletLocation = getCodeBase();
    URL imageURL = null;
    try {    
        // Start loading the graveyard image
        imageURL = new URL(appletLocation +
                                          "/images/boothill-blue.jpg");
        graveyard = getImage(imageURL);
        tracker.addImage(graveyard, 0);      
        // Start loading the skull image
        imageURL = new URL(appletLocation +
                                          "/images/skull-1.gif");
        skull = getImage(imageURL);
      tracker.addImage(skull, 0);
     }
     catch (MalformedURLException e) { e.printStackTrace(); }
     // Wait for the images; does no error checking
    try { tracker.waitForAll(5000); }
    catch (InterruptedException e) {}
}