diff --git a/include/mapnik/text_path.hpp b/include/mapnik/text_path.hpp
index 921859843..b08c1e567 100644
--- a/include/mapnik/text_path.hpp
+++ b/include/mapnik/text_path.hpp
@@ -140,12 +140,12 @@ class text_path : mapnik::noncopyable
 
         ~character_node() {}
 
-        void vertex(char_info_ptr *c_, double *x_, double *y_, double *angle_) const
+        void vertex(char_info_ptr & c_, double & x_, double  & y_, double & angle_) const
         {
-            *c_ = c;
-            *x_ = pos.x;
-            *y_ = pos.y;
-            *angle_ = angle;
+            c_ = c;
+            x_ = pos.x;
+            y_ = pos.y;
+            angle_ = angle;
         }
     };
 
@@ -172,7 +172,7 @@ public:
     }
 
     /** Return node. Always returns a new node. Has no way to report that there are no more nodes. */
-    void vertex(char_info_ptr *c, double *x, double *y, double *angle) const
+    void vertex(char_info_ptr & c, double & x, double & y, double & angle) const
     {
         nodes_[itr_++].vertex(c, x, y, angle);
     }
diff --git a/src/cairo_context.cpp b/src/cairo_context.cpp
index d2a3a9271..980523a6f 100644
--- a/src/cairo_context.cpp
+++ b/src/cairo_context.cpp
@@ -417,7 +417,7 @@ void cairo_context::add_text(text_path const& path,
         char_info_ptr c;
         double x, y, angle;
 
-        path.vertex(&c, &x, &y, &angle);
+        path.vertex(c, x, y, angle);
 
         face_set_ptr faces = font_manager.get_face_set(c->format->face_name, c->format->fontset);
         double text_size = c->format->text_size * scale_factor;
diff --git a/src/font_engine_freetype.cpp b/src/font_engine_freetype.cpp
index 478488557..3842cbecc 100644
--- a/src/font_engine_freetype.cpp
+++ b/src/font_engine_freetype.cpp
@@ -357,7 +357,7 @@ box2d<double> text_renderer<T>::prepare_glyphs(text_path const& path)
         char_info_ptr c;
         double x, y, angle;
 
-        path.vertex(&c, &x, &y, &angle);
+        path.vertex(c, x, y, angle);
 
         // TODO Enable when we have support for setting verbosity
         // MAPNIK_LOG_DEBUG(font_engine_freetype) << "text_renderer: prepare_glyphs="
diff --git a/src/placement_finder.cpp b/src/placement_finder.cpp
index 97fc496db..204297fc6 100644
--- a/src/placement_finder.cpp
+++ b/src/placement_finder.cpp
@@ -919,7 +919,7 @@ bool placement_finder<DetectorT>::test_placement(std::auto_ptr<text_path> const&
         double cwidth = ci.width + ci.format->character_spacing;
         char_info_ptr c;
         double x, y, angle;
-        current_placement->vertex(&c, &x, &y, &angle);
+        current_placement->vertex(c, x, y, angle);
         x = current_placement->center.x + x;
         y = current_placement->center.y - y;