1. An apparatus for retrieving and storing a pointer to a next emulation routine during execution of a current emulation routine in a computer system having a central processing unit and a memory coupled by a control bus, a data bus, and an address, said apparatus comprising: an emulated program counter having a control input, a load input, and an output, for storing an address of a next source instruction to be emulated, the emulated program counter storing data on the data bus in response to a first signal on the control input of the emulated program counter, the control input of the emulated program counter coupled to the control bus, the load input of the emulated program counter coupled to the data bus, and the output of the emulated program counter coupled to the address bus; a pointer storage means having a control input, a data input, and a data output, for storing a pointer to the next emulation routine in response to a second signal on the control input of the pointer storage means, the control input of the pointer storage means coupled to the control bus, the data input of the pointer storage means coupled to the data bus, and the data output of the pointer storage means coupled to the data bus; and a prefetch state machine having a control input, an increment input, an increment output, and a control output, for detecting when the emulated program counter has been updated, retrieving a pointer to the next emulation routine to be executed from the memory and storing the pointer in the pointer storage means, the control input of the prefetch state machine coupled to the control bus, the increment input of the prefetch state machine coupled to the address bus, and the control output of the prefetch state machine coupled to the control bus.