diff --git a/TODO b/TODO
index 4cb16877..5fb7763f 100644
--- a/TODO
+++ b/TODO
@@ -1,10 +1,6 @@
-- add a direct route to flood for label_regions, delay speeding up operation
-  dispatch for now, seems like a large job
+- break vipsflood into a separate struct we can use directly
 
-  a direct path can also avoid things like vector_to_ink, which involve
-  running a pipeline to generate a single pixel
-
-  almost working
+  same for draw_mask
 
 - it was quick ..
 
@@ -14,9 +10,13 @@
 	user	0m0.173s
 	sys	0m0.031s
 
-  now incredibly slow
+  best now:
+
+	$ time vips labelregions babe.jpg x.v
+	real	0m3.951s
+	user	0m3.940s
+	sys	0m0.032s
 
-  can we speed up function dispatch at all?
 
 - ink to vec etc. should work for complex .. output or accept a double-length 
   vector
diff --git a/libvips/draw/draw_flood.c b/libvips/draw/draw_flood.c
index c9cf97e5..0063242e 100644
--- a/libvips/draw/draw_flood.c
+++ b/libvips/draw/draw_flood.c
@@ -548,6 +548,9 @@ vips__draw_flood_direct( VipsImage *image, VipsImage *test,
 	}
 
 	((VipsDraw *) flood)->image = image;
+	g_object_ref( image ); 
+	((VipsDraw *) flood)->lsize = VIPS_IMAGE_SIZEOF_LINE( image );
+	((VipsDraw *) flood)->psize = VIPS_IMAGE_SIZEOF_PEL( image );
 
 	if( !(((VipsDrawink *) flood)->pixel_ink = VIPS_ARRAY( flood, 
 		VIPS_IMAGE_SIZEOF_PEL( image ), VipsPel )) ) {
@@ -556,12 +559,16 @@ vips__draw_flood_direct( VipsImage *image, VipsImage *test,
 	}
 	*((int *) (((VipsDrawink *) flood)->pixel_ink)) = serial; 
 
+	flood->x = x;
+	flood->y = y;
 	flood->test = test;
+	g_object_ref( test ); 
+	flood->equal = TRUE;
 	flood->tsize = VIPS_IMAGE_SIZEOF_PEL( test );
-	flood->left = flood->x;
-	flood->top = flood->y;
-	flood->right = flood->x;
-	flood->bottom = flood->y;
+	flood->left = x;
+	flood->top = y;
+	flood->right = x;
+	flood->bottom = y;
 	flood->in = buffer_build();
 	flood->out = buffer_build();
 
diff --git a/libvips/morphology/labelregions.c b/libvips/morphology/labelregions.c
index e70be565..4db0efee 100644
--- a/libvips/morphology/labelregions.c
+++ b/libvips/morphology/labelregions.c
@@ -88,12 +88,7 @@ vips_labelregions_build( VipsObject *object )
 	for( y = 0; y < t[1]->Ysize; y++ ) {
 		for( x = 0; x < t[1]->Xsize; x++ ) {
 			if( !m[x] ) {
-				/*
-				if( vips_draw_flood1( t[1], serial, x, y,
-					"test", in,
-					"equal", TRUE,
-					NULL ) )
-					return( -1 ); 
+				/* Use a direct path for speed.
 				 */
 				if( vips__draw_flood_direct( t[1], in, 
 					serial, x, y ) )