diff --git a/guix/http-client.scm b/guix/http-client.scm
index 99bbccafd6..a2e11a1b73 100644
--- a/guix/http-client.scm
+++ b/guix/http-client.scm
@@ -250,7 +250,7 @@ (define batch
              (#f
               (close-port p)
               (connect #f                         ; try again
-                       (drop requests (+ 1 processed))
+                       (drop requests processed)
                        result)))))))))