int and long values are written using variable-length, zig-zag coding.

def write_int(fo, datum, schema=None):
    """int and long values are written using variable-length, zig-zag coding.
    """
    datum = (datum << 1) ^ (datum >> 63)
    while (datum & ~0x7F) != 0:
        fo.write(pack('B', (datum & 0x7f) | 0x80))
        datum >>= 7
    fo.write(pack('B', datum))