diff --git a/Tests/images/high_ascii_chars.png b/Tests/images/high_ascii_chars.png
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fc9ab8401
Binary files /dev/null and b/Tests/images/high_ascii_chars.png differ
diff --git a/Tests/test_font_pcf.py b/Tests/test_font_pcf.py
index 60e6e0e26..015885d01 100644
--- a/Tests/test_font_pcf.py
+++ b/Tests/test_font_pcf.py
@@ -22,10 +22,22 @@ def test_sanity():
 
     font.save(tempname)
 
-def test_draw():
+def xtest_draw():
 
     font = ImageFont.load(tempname)
     image = Image.new("L", font.getsize(message), "white")
     draw = ImageDraw.Draw(image)
     draw.text((0, 0), message, font=font)
     # assert_signature(image, "7216c60f988dea43a46bb68321e3c1b03ec62aee")
+
+def test_high_characters():
+    
+    message = "".join([chr(i+1) for i in range(140,232)])
+    font = ImageFont.load(tempname)
+    image = Image.new("L", font.getsize(message), "white")
+    draw = ImageDraw.Draw(image)
+    draw.text((0, 0), message, font=font)
+
+    compare = Image.open('Tests/images/high_ascii_chars.png')
+
+    assert_image_equal(image, compare)
diff --git a/_imaging.c b/_imaging.c
index 078961da4..873617ea2 100644
--- a/_imaging.c
+++ b/_imaging.c
@@ -2245,24 +2245,28 @@ _font_getmask(ImagingFontObject* self, PyObject* args)
     Imaging im;
     Imaging bitmap;
     int x, b;
+    int i=0;
     int status;
     Glyph* glyph;
 
     unsigned char* text;
     char* mode = "";
-    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "s|s:getmask", &text, &mode))
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "es|s:getmask", "latin1", &text, &mode)){
         return NULL;
+    }
 
     im = ImagingNew(self->bitmap->mode, textwidth(self, text), self->ysize);
-    if (!im)
+    if (!im) {
+        PyMem_Free(text);
         return NULL;
+    }
 
     b = 0;
     (void) ImagingFill(im, &b);
 
     b = self->baseline;
-    for (x = 0; *text; text++) {
-        glyph = &self->glyphs[*text];
+    for (x = 0; text[i]; i++) {
+        glyph = &self->glyphs[text[i]];
         bitmap = ImagingCrop(
             self->bitmap,
             glyph->sx0, glyph->sy0, glyph->sx1, glyph->sy1
@@ -2279,10 +2283,11 @@ _font_getmask(ImagingFontObject* self, PyObject* args)
         x = x + glyph->dx;
         b = b + glyph->dy;
     }
-
+    PyMem_Free(text);
     return PyImagingNew(im);
 
   failed:
+    PyMem_Free(text);
     ImagingDelete(im);
     return NULL;
 }
@@ -2291,10 +2296,14 @@ static PyObject*
 _font_getsize(ImagingFontObject* self, PyObject* args)
 {
     unsigned char* text;
-    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "s:getsize", &text))
+    PyObject* retval;
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "es:getsize", "latin-1", &text))
         return NULL;
 
-    return Py_BuildValue("ii", textwidth(self, text), self->ysize);
+    retval = Py_BuildValue("ii", textwidth(self, text), self->ysize);
+    PyMem_Free(text);
+    return retval;
+        
 }
 
 static struct PyMethodDef _font_methods[] = {