Of course, it's play, because one can't, can one?
But I can only make out "Boom, ta-ta-ta-ta," getting quicker and weaker to the end, you know, as the ripples run up the sand.' 'It's very like what I hear,' Margaret answered.
'Is it really ?' Little Ida was delighted.

'Perhaps it's a language after all, and I shall make it out some day.

You see, until I know the language people are speaking, their lips look as if they were talking nonsense.

But I'm sure the sea could not really talk nonsense all day for thousands of years.' 'No, I'm sure it couldn't!' Margaret was amused.

'But the sea is not alive,' she added.
'Everything that moves is alive,' the child said, 'and everything that is alive can make a noise, and the noise must mean something.