about nine o'clock
Bill and Ben silently squeezed their comrade 's hand , being unable to speak , and then hastened back to their stations . It was about this time that the _ L'Orient _ caught fire , and when Bill and his friend reached the deck , sheets of flame were already leaping out at the port-holes of the gigantic ship . The sides of the _ L'Orient _ had been recently painted , and the paint-buckets and oil-jars which stood on the poop soon caught , and added brilliancy to the great conflagration which speedily followed the first outbreak of fire . It was about nine o'clock when the fire was first observed . Before this the gallant French Admiral had perished . Although three times wounded , Brueys refused to quit his post . At length a shot almost cut him in two , but still he refused to go below , and desired to be left to die on his quarter-deck .