Answer: C. The setting causes the characters to have difficulty finding food.
Explanation:
The setting infers that the characters in question are looking for food to eat. First the men who came in on horseback ask for food and say they are starving which means that they have had difficulty finding food.
Then the notice that the ranch may not have food as well when they say that there is no way the place can be empty and lacking of food seeing as there was a child there. This means that the woman herself wants food so the setting is such that the characters seem to all have difficulty in finding food.
