diff --git a/src/compile.cpp b/src/compile.cpp
index 97e3767ec9..fbc9450165 100644
--- a/src/compile.cpp
+++ b/src/compile.cpp
@@ -4953,7 +4953,7 @@ compile(MyThread* t, Frame* initialFrame, unsigned ip,
 
       case iinc: {
         uint16_t index = codeReadInt16(t, code, ip);
-        uint16_t count = codeReadInt16(t, code, ip);
+        int16_t count = codeReadInt16(t, code, ip);
 
         storeLocal
           (context, 1,
diff --git a/test/Integers.java b/test/Integers.java
index 80e1a0e3a5..c88803b518 100644
--- a/test/Integers.java
+++ b/test/Integers.java
@@ -21,6 +21,11 @@ public class Integers {
   }
 
   public static void main(String[] args) {
+    { int foo = 1028;
+      foo -= 1023;
+      expect(foo == 5);
+    }
+
     expect(gcd(12, 4) == 4);
 
     { int a = 2;