openssh 2.3.0p1 closing connection before command output comes through?

[Devon Bleak]

i'm getting some very strange behavior with openssh 2.3.0p1 that i don't
recall seeing with 2.2.0p1.  here's some short output that will probably sum
up what's going on better than i can explain it:

admin2:~$ ssh downtown1 df
Filesystem           1k-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda3              8457624   2881868   5139192  36% /
/dev/sda1                15522      1662     13059  11% /boot
/dev/sdb1              8605584   5633920   2527472  69% /content
/dev/sdc1              8605584   3261568   4899824  40% /logs
admin2:~$ ssh downtown1 df
admin2:~$ ssh downtown1 df
admin2:~$ ssh -t downtown1 df
Filesystem           1k-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda3              8457624   2881904   5139156  36% /
Connection to downtown1 closed.
admin2:~$ ssh -t downtown1 df
Connection to downtown1 closed.
admin2:~$ ssh -t downtown1 df
Filesystem           1k-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
Connection to downtown1 closed.
admin2:~$ ssh -t downtown1 df
Connection to downtown1 closed.
admin2:~$ ssh -t downtown1 df
Filesystem           1k-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
Connection to downtown1 closed.
admin2:~$ ssh -t downtown1 df
Connection to downtown1 closed.
admin2:~$ ssh -t downtown1 df
Connection to downtown1 closed.
admin2:~$ ssh -t downtown1 df
Filesystem           1k-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda3              8457624   2881908   5139152  36% /
/dev/sda1                15522      1662     13059  11% /boot
/dev/sdb1              8605584   5633920   2527472  69% /content
/dev/sdc1              8605584   3261664   4899728  40% /logs
Connection to downtown1 closed.

there's plenty of memory free (512MB total, 220MB free) and cpu load is low
(0.05 up to around 0.10).
system is slackware 7.1.0.  using openssl 0.9.5a.  using openssh 2.3.0p1 on
both ends of the connection with publickey authentication.

using openssh 2.1.1 (openssl 0.9.5a) with password authentication to the
same server, everything works normally.

devon