--- a/liboctave/idx-vector.cc	Tue May 13 09:57:15 2008 -0500
+++ b/liboctave/idx-vector.cc	Tue May 13 17:45:35 2008 +0200
@@ -270,11 +270,13 @@
     range(0), initialized (0), frozen (0),
     colon_equiv_checked (0), colon_equiv (0), orig_dims ()
 {
+  dim_vector dv = bnda.dims ();
+
+  orig_dims = ((dv.length () == 2 && dv(0) == 1)
+	       ? dim_vector (1, len) : orig_dims = dim_vector (len, 1));
+
   if (len == 0)
-    {
-      orig_dims = dim_vector (0, 0);
-      initialized = 1;
-    }
+    initialized = 1;
   else
     {
       data = new octave_idx_type [len];
@@ -285,11 +287,6 @@
 	if (bnda.elem (i))
 	  data[k++] = i;
 
-      dim_vector dv = bnda.dims ();
-
-      orig_dims = ((dv.length () == 2 && dv(0) == 1)
-		   ? dim_vector (1, len) : orig_dims = dim_vector (len, 1));
-
       init_state ();
     }
 }