diff --git a/scsh/fdports1.c b/scsh/fdports1.c
index 1956c9c..d610992 100644
--- a/scsh/fdports1.c
+++ b/scsh/fdports1.c
@@ -471,7 +471,7 @@ scheme_value skip_chars(const char *skipchars, scheme_value port,  int *nread)
     ** stdio FILE*. Yech.
     */
     if( IsChar(peekc) ) {
-	char c = EXTRACT_CHAR(peekc);
+	int c = EXTRACT_CHAR(peekc);
 	if( skipchars[c]  ) {		/* Is c in cset? */
 	    *PortData_Peek(data) = SCHFALSE;
 	    nr = 1;