diff --git a/libdispatch/dvar.c b/libdispatch/dvar.c
index a1fde035a8..4be5d7f10e 100644
--- a/libdispatch/dvar.c
+++ b/libdispatch/dvar.c
@@ -738,7 +738,7 @@ nc_def_var_chunking(int ncid, int varid, int storage, const size_t *chunksizesp)
 /**
    Define endianness of a variable.
 
-   With this function the endianness (i.e. order of bits in integers) can
+   With this function the endianness (i.e. order of bytes in integers) can
    be changed on a per-variable basis. By default, the endianness is the
    same as the default endianness of the platform. But with
    nc_def_var_endianness the endianness can be explicitly set for a
diff --git a/nc_test4/tst_h5_endians.c b/nc_test4/tst_h5_endians.c
index c648515391..96964ac28b 100644
--- a/nc_test4/tst_h5_endians.c
+++ b/nc_test4/tst_h5_endians.c
@@ -301,6 +301,7 @@ int main() {
         if ((retval = nc_put_var(ncid,be_int_varid,idata_in)))
             return retval;
         if ((retval = nc_get_var(ncid,be_int_varid,idata_be_out)))
+            return retval;
 	for(failed=0,i=0;i<NDIM;i++) {if(idata_in[i] != idata_be_out[i]) {printf("failed\n"); failures++; failed++; break;}}
 	if(!failed) printf("passed\n");