diff --git a/lib/escape.c b/lib/escape.c
index df891784270d238cbedf2128f9a491cd5f698be3..ddb364a9c1dbefc82658f0f8d1d3b3043ada7768 100644
--- a/lib/escape.c
+++ b/lib/escape.c
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ char *curl_unescape(char *string, int length)
    char *ns = malloc(alloc);
    unsigned char in;
    int index=0;
-   int hex;
+   unsigned int hex;
    char querypart=FALSE; /* everything to the right of a '?' letter is
                             the "query part" where '+' should become ' '.
                             RFC 2316, section 3.10 */