Return code from .exe to cygwin perl

[jimcadd]

I'm in a perl script trying to get a return code from an .exe in cygwin.
All I can get is an 8bit return code (-128) --> (127) [a signed byte].

Perl gets the return code back through the special variable "$?" which
is 16bits but gets shifted 8bits (>>8) to retrieve the return code.

Is there a way that anyone knows of that I can get a larger return code (ie. a short 16bit or a long 32bit)?

This perl script is a converted batch program that used %ERRORLEVEL%.
Apparently it could return values greater than 8 bits.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

[jimcadd]

Caller.pl --> Wrapper.cmd --> hello.exe
hello.exe returns the input parameter.

Wrapper.cmd
----------------------
@%1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9
@echo %ERRORLEVEL%

Caller.pl
-----------------
#!/usr/bin/perl
my $code = 'c:/executables/hello.exe';
my @out = `./Wrapper.cmd "$code" 1234`;
my $rc = pop @out;
print " return code = $rc\n";
print "\nThe Program Output Follows Here:\n";
print join '',@out;;