The captain dashed their hopes, however, by telling them that all telegraph lines had been monopolized by the Government, and that it would be impossible to send a private message of any sort. He advised the boys to continue as they had planned, saying that they would probably reach home before their father. He said, moreover, that he could be of great help to them at Petrovsk. When they arrived at that port, where the boys were to leave the boat, the captain went with them to the chief of police, taking the sailor along to assist in the conversation. He explained the state of affairs to the official, and though no instructions concerning foreigners had been received at Petrovsk, probably because that town was so insignificant a place, the chief of police was finally convinced that it would be his duty to help the boys to the extent of his power. The captain assured him that he had seen the order sent to Astrakhan, and he was certain the Petrovsk official would rue the day that he went contrary to the spirit of those instructions. The boys had expected to proceed from Petrovsk by rail to Vladikavkaz, and then by wagon along the Georgia military road through the Dariel Pass to Tiflis. They had been told there was a daily automobile stage through the pass, but feared that if they indulged in such luxury, they would not have money enough to reach home, so decided to choose the very much slower, but also very much cheaper, mode of travel. When the captain learned, however, that mobilization of the army was being pushed so vigorously that the Dariel Pass would be filled constantly with moving troops, he feared that it would not be safe for the boys to attempt that route, and advised them to give it up. He said they would be almost certain to encounter acts of aggression by the soldiers, no matter how well disposed the officers might be. The chief informed them there was another possible way of crossing the mountains by trails that led almost directly south from Petrovsk. But the mountains through which those trails passed were extremely rugged and difficult, and the people who inhabited them were very rough and sometimes even fierce. That it would be, in short, a dangerous road, and he doubted if young boys who were strange to the country could accomplish a passage. When those drawbacks were explained to the boys, however, they declared that they were too familiar with mountains to be scared by anything of the sort. Indeed, the mountain route looked very attractive to them, and they immediately chose it.