Newbie imap lib question

[jrpfinch]

I have three messages in my inbox.  Why does messageCount =
gServer.select('INBOX') not just return OK and 3.  See below for
examples - seems to be completely random how many threes it returns.
The documentation for imaplib seems sparse.  Does anybody have any good
links?  Many thanks, Jon

messageCount =
 0 : OK
 1 : ['3']
messageCount =
 0 : OK
 1 : ['3', '3', '3']
messageCount =
 0 : OK
 1 : [None]
messageCount =
 0 : OK
 1 : ['3', '3']