diff --git a/src/usr.sbin/ntpd/ntpd.c b/src/usr.sbin/ntpd/ntpd.c
index 8cbf68c1..a46918b2 100644
--- a/src/usr.sbin/ntpd/ntpd.c
+++ b/src/usr.sbin/ntpd/ntpd.c
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/*	$OpenBSD: ntpd.c,v 1.37 2005/06/19 16:42:57 henning Exp $ */
+/*	$OpenBSD: ntpd.c,v 1.38 2005/06/19 17:11:13 henning Exp $ */
 
 /*
  * Copyright (c) 2003, 2004 Henning Brauer <henning@openbsd.org>
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ main(int argc, char *argv[])
 			if (daemon(1, 0))
 				fatal("daemon");
 	} else
-		timeout = 15 * 1000;
+		timeout = SETTIME_TIMEOUT * 1000;
 
 	if (socketpair(AF_UNIX, SOCK_STREAM, PF_UNSPEC, pipe_chld) == -1)
 		fatal("socketpair");
@@ -168,8 +168,8 @@ main(int argc, char *argv[])
 			conf.settime = 0;
 			timeout = INFTIM;
 			log_init(conf.debug);
-			log_debug("no reply received, skipping initial time "
-			    "setting");
+			log_debug("no reply received in time, skipping initial "
+			    "time setting");
 			if (!conf.debug)
 				if (daemon(1, 0))
 					fatal("daemon");
diff --git a/src/usr.sbin/ntpd/ntpd.h b/src/usr.sbin/ntpd/ntpd.h
index 2952415d..fe6598a7 100644
--- a/src/usr.sbin/ntpd/ntpd.h
+++ b/src/usr.sbin/ntpd/ntpd.h
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/*	$OpenBSD: ntpd.h,v 1.56 2005/06/19 16:42:57 henning Exp $ */
+/*	$OpenBSD: ntpd.h,v 1.57 2005/06/19 17:11:13 henning Exp $ */
 
 /*
  * Copyright (c) 2003, 2004 Henning Brauer <henning@openbsd.org>
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@
 #define	QUERYTIME_MAX		15	/* single query might take n secs max */
 #define	OFFSET_ARRAY_SIZE	8
 #define	SETTIME_MIN_OFFSET	180	/* min offset for settime at start */
+#define	SETTIME_TIMEOUT		15	/* max seconds to wait with -s */
 #define	LOG_NEGLIGEE		128	/* negligible drift to not log (ms) */
 
 enum client_state {