No obstruction to the _Kite’s_ progress was met until about 16 miles north of the Duck Islands. Here the dreaded Melville Bay pack was encountered, and the _Kite_ after boring her way from the 2nd till the 4th July was completely beset, and did not escape till the 17th. On the 11th July the ice slackened a little, and the _Kite_ made attempts to forge ahead. While at this work a large cake of ice struck the rudder, jamming it hard over, and tearing the wheel from the hands of the two men on duty. One of the men was thrown clear over the wheel, and the next instant the iron tiller had caught Peary’s leg between it and the deck-house, and snapped both bones just above the ankle. He was immediately carried to the cabin, where his leg was set. This was an extremely serious accident for Peary, and a man with less determination would have given up the expedition and returned home. This idea did not seem to occur to Peary. Even with a broken leg at this critical period, he decided that everything must go on. It was his intention to secure a winter camp on the north shore of Inglefield Gulf; but the _Kite_ met unbroken ice, and was ultimately run into McCormick Bay. Here a site for the house was soon selected, and preparations were at once made to land provisions and stores. On the 26th July work was commenced on the house. During the delay in Melville Bay pack, Peary had the wood cut and fitted, and now it had only to be nailed together and erected. The interior dimensions of the house were to be 21 feet in length, 12 feet in width, and 8 feet in height from floor to ceiling. It consisted of an inner and an outer shell, separated by an air-space, formed by the frames of the house, and varying from 10 inches at the sides to over 3 feet in the centre of the roof. On the outside of the frames was attached the outer air-tight shell composed of a sheathing of closely fitting boards and two thicknesses of tarred paper. To the inside of the frames was fastened the inner shell, composed of thick trunk boards, and made air-tight by pasting all the joints with heavy brown paper. This inner shell was lined throughout with heavy blankets. To still further protect it, a wall was built entirely around the house, about 5 feet distant from it. The foundation of this wall was composed of stones, turf, and empty barrels. Above this, the wooden boxes containing tinned supplies were piled in regular courses in such a way that the contents could easily be reached. From the top of these, canvas was stretched to the side of the house so as to form a corridor. When the snow came, a wall of this was built outside of the other, and the roof of the house was also thickly covered with snow. On the 27th July, Peary was taken ashore, strapped to a plank, and placed in a tent near the site of the house, so that he might supervise the work. The _Kite_ departed for the south on the 30th July, and Peary and his party were left to their own resources.