Brief overview:

I have a JTree within an applet.
I have a MouseListener on the JTree to trap a right mouse click and display
a JPopupMenu
...public void mousePressed(MouseEvent e)
        {
        if (e.isMetaDown())
           {
           showPopupMenu( e );
           return;
           }
        }

Problem:

We've encountered a problem (inconsistent), where a user will right click on
a "new" node on the tree, and the browser just hangs.  The only way to close
the browser is with task manager (I'm running WinXP, IE 6, jdk 1.4.2_04).

The showPopupMenu method is called:
public void showPopupMenu(MouseEvent mouse_event)
     {
     try
        {
        // get root node from tree model
        SpiderClientNode root_node =
(SpiderClientNode)tree_model.getRoot();
        // get the path from the mouse event object (where the user
clicked)
        TreePath mouse_click_path = getPathForLocation(mouse_event.getX(),
mouse_event.getY());
        // if mouse click path is null, do nothing
        if (mouse_click_path != null)
           {
           System.out.println("have mouse click path, now retrieving the
node at that path");
           // get SpiderClientNode from path
           SpiderClientNode mouse_click_node =
(SpiderClientNode)mouse_click_path.getLastPathComponent();
           // if node is null, do nothing
           if (mouse_click_node != null)
              {
              System.out.println("user clicked on node with product id: " +
mouse_click_node.getProductId());
              // get currently selected path
              TreePath selected_path = getSelectionPath();
              // get selected node from path
              SpiderClientNode selected_node =
(SpiderClientNode)selected_path.getLastPathComponent();
              // if selected node is different than the mouse click node,
set new selection path
              if (selected_node != null && selected_node !=
mouse_click_node)
                 {
                 System.out.println("selected node is different than the
mouse click node, setting new selection path");
                 // call method to set global variable for new path
                 setSelectionPath(mouse_click_path);
                 }
              // if mouse click node is not the root, display the popup
menu
              if (mouse_click_node != root_node)
                 {
                 System.out.println("mouse click node != root, showing
menu");
                 // instantiate popup menu
                 System.out.println("creating new popup menu");
                 SpiderTreeRTPopupMenu popup = new
SpiderTreeRTPopupMenu(parent_applet,mouse_click_node);
                 System.out.println("new menu created, display to user at
location X: " + mouse_event.getX() + " and Y: " + mouse_event.getY());
                 // show the menu at mouse click location
                 popup.show( mouse_event.getComponent(),
mouse_event.getX(), mouse_event.getY() );
                 System.out.println("menu should now be displayed");
                 }
              }
           else
              {
              System.out.println("user did not right click on a node in the
tree");
              }
           }
        else
           {
           System.out.println("mouse click path is null");
           }
        }
     catch (Exception e)
        {
        System.out.println("SpiderTreeRT::showPopupMenu(MouseEvent)::Unable
to show popup");
        e.printStackTrace();
        }
     }

I get all System.out's up until the popup.show method is called, then the
browser hangs.

Has anyone encountered such a problem?  Any input would be greatly
appreciated.

Thank you,
Frank