To make a place for others to live comfortably some day! That might be Bo's meaning, embodied in her forceful hint.

But Helen was too tired to think it out then.

She found it interesting and vaguely pleasant to watch Dale.
He hobbled the horses and turned them loose.

Then with ax in hand he approached a short, dead tree, standing among a few white-barked aspens.

Dale appeared to advantage swinging the ax.