Something

while(strtok.hasMoreTokens()) {
			String tok = strtok.nextToken();
			if(idx >= 2) {
				System.err.println("unexpected substring: " + tok);
				return false;
			}

			try {
				int val = Integer.parseInt(tok);

				if(idx++ == 0) {
					len = val;
				} else {
					start = val;
				}
			}
			catch(NumberFormatException e) {
				System.err.println("expected a number, got: " + tok);
				return false;
			}
		}

		if(idx == 2) {
			return true;
		}
		System.err.println("short description string (" + idx + "): " + pdesc);
		return false;
	}
}