Climb out of the well

     Charlie was getting into his flivver when the Chief came down the steps of Halekaua Hale.

    "Thought you'd gone home, Charlie," he said.

    "I was for a moment delayed," Chan explained.

    His superior came up eagerly. "Anything new?"

    "I remain just where I always have been," the detective sighed.

    "You're not really as much in the dark on this case as you say you are?" asked the Chief anxiously.

    Chan nodded. "The man who sits in a well sees little of the sky."

    "Well, climb out, Charlie, climb out."

    "I am planning swift ascent," the detective answered, and starting his engine, sped off at last in the direction of his house on Punchbowl Hill.

(from The Black Camel, by Earl Derr Biggers)