An entertaining novel about English public school life, "The Pothunters" follows the exploits of a number of boys in the fictional public school, St. Austin's. Charteris, Tony Graham, Welch, Jim Thompson and Macarthur, aka "The Babe" are Sixth-formers (members of the top class or "form"). Jim Thompson is accused of stealing lost school trophies which were actually taken by a burglar. A younger schoolboy, Barrett, accidentally finds the lost cups or "pots" in a hollow tree in a wood, but does not dare reveal their whereabouts. The burglary case is complicated when Jim goes missing. The Headmaster thinks he may have run away after being accused, but later Jim is found in a ditch into which he fell while returning from a visit to the Babe's house. Finally, in order to help Jim raise a pound which he needs to send to his brother, Charteris and his friends work overtime to publish a special edition of Charteris' paper, the "Glow Worm" which they then sell to the other schoolboys, and the money is raised quite easily.