diff --git a/libguile/ChangeLog b/libguile/ChangeLog
index 4b3b975cb..1f7b246a2 100644
--- a/libguile/ChangeLog
+++ b/libguile/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2000-06-15  Dirk Herrmann  <D.Herrmann@tu-bs.de>
+
+	* gc.c (scm_unprotect_object):  The reference count is guaranteed
+	to be a positive number.
+
 2000-06-15  Mikael Djurfeldt  <mdj@thalamus.nada.kth.se>
 
 	* eval.c: Updated comment above scm_map.
diff --git a/libguile/gc.c b/libguile/gc.c
index fc5dd4516..3da2065cd 100644
--- a/libguile/gc.c
+++ b/libguile/gc.c
@@ -2173,14 +2173,14 @@ scm_unprotect_object (SCM obj)
       fprintf (stderr, "scm_unprotect_object called on unprotected object\n");
       abort ();
     }
-  
-  {
-    int count = SCM_INUM (SCM_CDR (handle)) - 1;
-    if (count <= 0)
-      scm_hashq_remove_x (scm_protects, obj);
-    else
-      SCM_SETCDR (handle, SCM_MAKINUM (count));
-  }
+  else
+    {
+      unsigned long int count = SCM_INUM (SCM_CDR (handle)) - 1;
+      if (count == 0)
+	scm_hashq_remove_x (scm_protects, obj);
+      else
+	SCM_SETCDR (handle, SCM_MAKINUM (count));
+    }
 
   SCM_REALLOW_INTS;