var theImages = new Array();

// theImages[0] = 'path/to/image.jpg'

theImages[0] = '/cms/outertemplates/images/bg/hNav/hNavDrop.png';
theImages[1] = '/cms/outertemplates/images/bg/vNav/vNav-li-a-span-open.gif';

var j = 0;
var p = theImages.length;
var preBuffer = new Array();
for (i = 0; i < p; i++) {
    preBuffer[i] = new Image();
    preBuffer[i].src = theImages[i];
}