“[…]—I hollooed, but ye didn’t hear me, for I saw him catch ye just at the back of the head, in the large o’ the neck—a ticklish sort of a place—and down ye went—lor, sir, for all the world like a pig o’ lead. I never thought to have heard ye speak in this world again, ye went down so deadlike! and now the worst is over, a hard time ye’ve had of it and no wonder!”
Source: wiktionary