problem with my function

Okay:

I must be missing something vital; I thought my function
was working properly the other day, but now I can't
seem to figure out how I broke it.

[snip code]

drop function t_fastfunc(integer);
create function t_fastfunc(integer)
returns interger
as '
declare nCnt integer;
begin
select count (*) into nCnt
from t_stage_member;
if nCnt < 1500000 then
RAISE EXCEPTION ''Number of records is more than 1.5M'';
return nCnt;
end if;
end;
' language 'plpgsql';

[/snip code]

When I try to create it, I get the following error:

[error]

DROP
psql:./function_cnt.sql:18: NOTICE: ProcedureCreate: return type 'interger'
is only a shell
CREATE

[/error]

Question: What exactly is it tryiing to tell me about not returning a value?
And could someone explain what it means by 'only a shell'?

Thanks!

-X