"c" is signed. 249 is too big for a signed byte. "C" is for unsigned, use that instead.

Instead of looking in the Camel, add "-Mdiagnostics" or "use diagnostics" if you don't know what an error or warning means (or look in your local copy of lib/pod/perldiag.pod or "perldoc perldiag"). For example: 5.8.0's.