The President took along with him three youngest members among the recruits from the first day they joined the unit.

One day they picked bagfuls of maize with the shuck unremoved on the way back from the sentry post without the permission of its owner.

They wanted to serve the President with plentiful maize, thinking they could not allow him to go with plain water, however scanty the food was at the unit.

Telling them they had gravely encroached on the interests of people that day, he made them take back all the maize to the side of the field of the peasant.

He told them to love the people more ardently, drawing a lesson from what they had done that day. He said the people would give them a wide berth, if they slighted them and there was no more terrible thing than being forsaken by the people.

He said the greatest tragedy for a revolutionary was to lose the love of the people. "Upon whom could we depend in our fight, if we lost the love and support of the people?" he asked.