The School on the Moor is St Githa’s on Dartmoor. Here Toby Barrett, the daughter of an artist living in a neighbouring village, comes as a new girl the term in which the story opens. Toby (short for Tabitha) arrives every day on her pony Blackberry, and soon becomes an important member of the school. She knows the moor well, and is firmly convinced that hidden there is the great historical treasure, The Ark of the Covenant. Toby does indeed find treasure, but not that treasure.