int readIntLittleEndian( )
   {

   // get 4 unsigned byte components, and accumulate into an int.
   int accum = 0;
   for ( int shiftBy=0; shiftBy<32; shiftBy+=8 )
      {
      accum |= ( readByte () & 0xff ) << shiftBy;
      }
   return accum;

   // rem in JDK 1.5+ you can say:
   // return Integer.reverseBytes( i );

   }