There were six boys and girls in the Bastable family, and they lived in Lewisham. Their mother was dead, and their father's business was not doing well, so the hildren decided to see what they could do to restore the family fortunes. They tried just about everything they could think of - digging for treasure, being detectives, writing poetry. They answered advertisements in the daily paper, one from a money lender offering anything from twenty to ten thousand pounds 'on note of hand only'; another which said: 'Any lady or gentleman can easily earn two pounds a week in their spare time...' But their affairs took an unexpected turn for the better.