noon
`` Did the explosion destroy three hundred houses ! '' `` Yes , sir , my father was in Leyden at the time . He says it was terrible . The explosion occurred just at noon and it was like a volcano . All this part of the town was on fire in an instant , buildings tumbling down and men , women , and children groaning under the ruins . The king himself came to the city and acted nobly , Father says , staying out in the streets all night , encouraging the survivors in their efforts to arrest the fire and rescue as many as possible from under the heaps of stone and rubbish . Through his means a collection for the benefit of the sufferers was raised throughout the kingdom , besides a hundred thousand guilders paid out of the treasury .