diff --git a/kup b/kup
index f9e620b..f3a5d0f 100755
--- a/kup
+++ b/kup
@@ -285,7 +285,7 @@
 				die "$0: suspicious KUP_SUBCMD\n";
 			}
 			# Add the subcommand for the receiving server
-			$rsh .= " " . $opt{'subcmd'}
+			$rsh .= " \Q$1";
 		}
 		open(STDOUT, '|-', $rsh)
 			or die "$0: cannot execute rsh command ", $rsh, "\n";