definitely a newbie question

["Robert P. J. Day" <rpjday@mindspring.com>]

  just started with emacs, and it's not clear how, if i have
more than one window up already, how, in one operation, i can
open a new file in a *new* additional window.

  if i have just one window up, then "C-x 4 f <filename>"
(find-file-other-window) will split the screen horizontally
and open that second file.

  however, if i try this on a third file, it will just replace
the contents of the other window, rather than splitting the
screen into three windows, which is what i want.

  is there a way to do this easily?  or should i first split
one of the existing windows, then switch to an alternate file
in one of those windows?

rday