diff --git a/Objects/longobject.c b/Objects/longobject.c
index f11c016..cbc9f68 100644
--- a/Objects/longobject.c
+++ b/Objects/longobject.c
@@ -696,7 +696,7 @@
 
 	/* Plan 9 can't handle LONG_LONG in ? : expressions */
 	if (res < 0)
-		return (LONG_LONG)res;
+		return (LONG_LONG)-1;
 	else
 		return bytes;
 }