diff --git a/contrib/pyln-testing/pyln/testing/utils.py b/contrib/pyln-testing/pyln/testing/utils.py
index 69b89ccdd..32ef1bf3e 100644
--- a/contrib/pyln-testing/pyln/testing/utils.py
+++ b/contrib/pyln-testing/pyln/testing/utils.py
@@ -877,7 +877,7 @@ class LightningNode(object):
                                timeout=TIMEOUT,
                                stdout=subprocess.PIPE).stdout.strip()
         out = subprocess.run(['devtools/gossipwith',
-                              '--timeout-after={}'.format(int(math.sqrt(TIMEOUT) * 1000)),
+                              '--timeout-after={}'.format(int(math.sqrt(TIMEOUT) + 1)),
                               '{}@localhost:{}'.format(self.info['id'],
                                                        self.port),
                               query],
diff --git a/devtools/gossipwith.c b/devtools/gossipwith.c
index cac8eb32b..90940e520 100644
--- a/devtools/gossipwith.c
+++ b/devtools/gossipwith.c
@@ -164,7 +164,8 @@ static struct io_plan *handshake_success(struct io_conn *conn,
 		beint16_t belen;
 		u8 *msg;
 
-		if (poll(pollfd, ARRAY_SIZE(pollfd), timeout_after) == 0)
+		if (poll(pollfd, ARRAY_SIZE(pollfd),
+			 timeout_after < 0 ? -1 : timeout_after * 1000) == 0)
 			return 0;
 
 		/* We always to stdin first if we can */
@@ -235,7 +236,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 			 "Secret key to use for our identity");
 	opt_register_arg("--timeout-after", opt_set_intval, opt_show_intval,
 			 &timeout_after,
-			 "Exit (success) this many msec after no msgs rcvd");
+			 "Exit (success) this many seconds after no msgs rcvd");
 	opt_register_noarg("--help|-h", opt_usage_and_exit,
 			   "id@addr[:port] [hex-msg-tosend...]\n"
 			   "Connect to a lightning peer and relay gossip messages from it",
diff --git a/tests/test_gossip.py b/tests/test_gossip.py
index 15a53202a..27df804bd 100644
--- a/tests/test_gossip.py
+++ b/tests/test_gossip.py
@@ -1066,7 +1066,7 @@ def test_gossipwith(node_factory):
 
     out = subprocess.run(['devtools/gossipwith',
                           '--initial-sync',
-                          '--timeout-after={}'.format(int(math.sqrt(TIMEOUT) * 1000)),
+                          '--timeout-after={}'.format(int(math.sqrt(TIMEOUT) + 1)),
                           '{}@localhost:{}'.format(l1.info['id'], l1.port)],
                          check=True,
                          timeout=TIMEOUT, stdout=subprocess.PIPE).stdout