Zorro (novel) medallion as being the same as that of de Leon's. Escalante invites Diego to join La Justicia and they begin to train for his initiation test where Diego is tested physically in his fighting against members of La Justicia. Diego passes the test and joins La Justicia and takes the name Zorro meaning 'fox'. Diego learns that Amalia has been arrested and is being held prisoner. Diego, dressed as Zorro, sneaks into the palace to convince Le Chavalier Duchamp, Napoleon's emissary to Spain, to release the hostages which he does under threat of his daughter's life. Moncada and Diego continue
Zorro while also pretending to be a coward and a fop. Zorro made his debut in the 1919 novel "The Curse of Capistrano", originally meant as a stand-alone story. However, the success of the 1920 film adaptation "The Mark of Zorro" starring Douglas Fairbanks convinced McCulley to write more Zorro stories for about four decades: the character was featured in a total of five serialized stories and 57 short stories, the last one appearing in print posthumously in 1959, the year after his death. "The Curse of Capistrano" eventually sold more than 50 million copies, becoming one of the most sold