diff -Nur wesnoth-1.0.2-orig/src/help.cpp wesnoth-1.0.2/src/help.cpp
--- wesnoth-1.0.2-orig/src/help.cpp	2005-09-21 02:35:50.000000000 +0200
+++ wesnoth-1.0.2/src/help.cpp	2006-07-18 15:57:34.000000000 +0200
@@ -2581,20 +2581,23 @@
 
 std::string get_first_word(const std::string &s)
 {
-	if (s == "") {
+	if ( s.empty() ) {
 		return s;
 	}
 	size_t first_word_start = s.find_first_not_of(" ");
 	if (first_word_start == std::string::npos) {
-		first_word_start = 0;
+        return s;  // String consists of only spaces.
 	}
 	size_t first_word_end = s.find_first_of(" \n", first_word_start);
-	if (first_word_end == std::string::npos || first_word_end == first_word_start) {
-		// Either this word contains no spaces/newlines, or it consists
-		// of only spaces and newlines. In either case, use the whole
-		// chunk as a word.
+	if (first_word_end == std::string::npos) {
+		// This words ends with no spaces/newlines,
+        // Use the whole chunk as a word.
 		first_word_end = s.size();
 	}
+    else if ( first_word_end == first_word_start) {
+        // This word is '\n'.
+        first_word_end = first_word_start+1;
+    }
 	const std::string first_word = s.substr(0, first_word_end);
 	return first_word;
 }