diff -r 6ef65516fd7a -r fac0421cb7b2 Modules/_pickle.c
--- a/Modules/_pickle.c	Tue Aug 09 16:07:01 2011 -0500
+++ b/Modules/_pickle.c	Wed Aug 10 16:45:46 2011 +0100
@@ -4804,11 +4804,12 @@
 static int
 load_put(UnpicklerObject *self)
 {
-    PyObject *key, *value;
+    PyObject *value;
     Py_ssize_t idx;
     Py_ssize_t len;
     char *s;
-
+    char *ptr;
+    
     if ((len = _Unpickler_Readline(self, &s)) < 0)
         return -1;
     if (len < 2)
@@ -4817,11 +4818,12 @@
         return stack_underflow();
     value = self->stack->data[Py_SIZE(self->stack) - 1];
 
-    key = PyLong_FromString(s, NULL, 10);
-    if (key == NULL)
+    idx = PyOS_strtol(s, &ptr, 10);
+    if (ptr == s) {    /* no characters consumed */
+        PyErr_Format(PyExc_ValueError,
+                     "invalid literal for int() with base 10: %s", s);
         return -1;
-    idx = PyLong_AsSsize_t(key);
-    Py_DECREF(key);
+    }
     if (idx == -1 && PyErr_Occurred())
         return -1;