script/public-inbox-edit | 6 +++++-

diff --git a/script/public-inbox-edit b/script/public-inbox-edit
index f2090abfe583992ab6c398213438c3a76a3775d3..24b7ed8b2d220bb7a1bc090c7228e2a7fb608e21 100755
--- a/script/public-inbox-edit
+++ b/script/public-inbox-edit
@@ -149,7 +149,11 @@ 			print STDERR "(r)etry, (c)ontinue, (q)uit?\n";
 			chomp(my $op = <STDIN> || '');
 			$op = lc($op);
 			goto retry_edit if $op eq 'r';
-			exit $? if $op eq 'q';
+			if ($op eq 'q') {
+				# n.b. we'll lose the exit signal, here,
+				# oh well; "q" is user-specified anyways.
+				exit($? >> 8);
+			}
 			last if $op eq 'c'; # continuing
 			print STDERR "\`$op' not recognized\n";
 		}