diff --git a/base/multidimensional.jl b/base/multidimensional.jl
index 7add7b9e74205..a24767bf14d6f 100644
--- a/base/multidimensional.jl
+++ b/base/multidimensional.jl
@@ -454,12 +454,12 @@ module IteratorsMD
     end
     @inline function __inc(state::Tuple{Int,Int,Vararg{Int}}, indices::Tuple{OrdinalRangeInt,OrdinalRangeInt,Vararg{OrdinalRangeInt}})
         rng = indices[1]
-        I = state[1] + step(rng)
         if state[1] != last(rng)
+            I = state[1] + step(rng)
             return true, (I, tail(state)...)
         end
-        valid, I = __inc(tail(state), tail(indices))
-        return valid, (first(rng), I...)
+        valid, Itail = __inc(tail(state), tail(indices))
+        return valid, (first(rng), Itail...)
     end
 
     # 0-d cartesian ranges are special-cased to iterate once and only once