It was my plain professional duty to take a large hammer and knock holes in the boiler with it, smash up the furnace pipes, start a leak of gas, and then call in three or more of my colleagues.
"But somehow I couldn't find it in my heart to do it.

The thought of the girl's appealing face arose before me.
"'How long has this trouble been going on ?' I asked sternly.
"'Quite a time,' answered the Bishop.

'It began, did it not, General, the same day that the confounded furnace went out?
The General here and Admiral Hay and I have been working at it for three days.' "'Well, gentlemen,' I said, 'I don't want to read you a lesson on your own ineptitude, and I don't suppose you would understand it if I did.
But don't you see that the whole trouble is _because_ you let the furnace out?
The boiler itself is all right, but you see, gents, it feeds off the furnace.' "'Ah,' said the Bishop in a deep melodious tone, 'it feeds off the furnace.

Now that is most interesting.

Let me repeat that; I must try to remember it; it feeds _off_ the furnace.